Principles  of  Drama-Therapy 

by 

Stephen  F.   Austin,  B.  A. 


A  Handbook  for  Dramatists,  Dealing  with  the 
Possibilities  of  Suggestion  and  the  Mass  Mind 


Serere  Ne  Dubites 


New  York 

Sopherim 

1917 


Copyright,  1917 

by 

Robert  Austin  Brunjes 


BLANCHARD  PRESS 
NEW  YORK 


To 
My  Mother 


2019C40 


.  .  .  all  things  .  .  .  are  at  the  mercy  of  a  new  generaliza- 
tion. Generalization  is  always  a  new  influx  of  the  divinity 
into  the  mind.  Hence  the  thrill  that  attends  it. 

— Emerson. 


Since  these  things  are  so,  and  since  tremendous  power 
lies  occluded  within  the  popular  mind,  may  not  America, 
with  her  genius  for  things  practical,  harness  such  unseen 
Niagaras — to  the  general  well-being  of  mankind?  In  do- 
ing so  she  would  have  revivified  a  theater  that  is  already 
obsolescent,  and  would  have  created  a  truly  American 
drama,  based  upon  truly  American  ideals. 


CONTENTS 

I.     THE  FACTORS  OF  PERSONALITY 1 

II.     THE  COMPOSITE  PERSONALITY 8 

III.     THE  BASIC  CONCEPT 14 

IV.     THE  BECOMING  OF  THE  BODY '. 19 

V.     THE  BECOMING  OF  THE  FACULTIES.  ...  27 

VI.     THE  ORGANISM  OF  THE  THEATER 35 

VII.     THE  ULTRA-COMEDY 48 

VIII.     THE  SUBJECTIVE  STRUCTURE 58 

IX.     THE  PLAY-PERSONALITY 60 

X.     THE  PERSONALITY  OF  THE  BACKGROUND  83 

XI.    DRAMATIC  SELECTION  AND  CONCLUSION  99 

THE  ATOMIC,  CORPUSCULAR  AND  ELECTRONIC 

THEORIES  OF  MATTER.  .                                .  107 


FOREWORD 

In  approaching  the  subject  matter  of  the  pres- 
ent volume  the  author  is  beset  at  once  with  many 
difficulties  of  exposition.  The  conception  with 
which  it  deals  is  still  young  and  so  far  as  the  gen- 
eral reader  is  concerned  there  is  little  or  no  body 
of  past  experience  to  which  appeal  may  be  made 
by  way  of  illustration.  Since  this  is  the  case,  and 
since  in  the  subsequent  pages  abstract  reasoning 
must  play  a  considerable  part,  it  is  best  at  once 
to  define  our  terms  and  briefly  to  state  the  ques- 
tion. What  then  is  meant  by  drama-therapy? 

Therapy  is  derived  from  a  Greek  word  mean- 
ing to  heal  or  to  cure,  and  in  its  present  form  im- 
plies the  art  or  science  of  healing.  It  most  fre- 
quently occurs,  however,  in  connection  with  some 
modifying  term.  This  is  true  in  the  case  of  the 
word,  psycho-therapy;  psycho  being  another 
Greek  derivative  meaning  soul.  Psycho-therapy, 
therefore,  means  the  art  or  science  of  soul-healing, 
or  preferably,  the  art  or  science  of  healing  ~by 
means,  or  through  the  instrumentality,  of  the  soul. 
It  is  today  a  recognized  branch  of  medical  prac- 
tice and  as  such  is  being  employed  in  many  of  our 
leading  hospitals. 

By  analogy  the  term,  drama-therapy,  which  the 
author  has  been  forced  to  coin  to  cover  a  new  idea 
and  which  he  offers  only  in  lieu  of  something  bet- 


FOREWORD 

ter,  would  denote  the  art  or  science  of  healing  by 
means,  or  through  the  instrumentality ',  of  the 
drama,  or,  by  means,  or  through  the  instrumental- 
ity, of  dramatic  presentation. 

It  is  his  purpose  in  the  following  pages  to  point 
out  certain  relations  existing  between  audience 
and  stage  which,  after  careful  consideration, 
would  appear  to  render  such  an  art  or  such  a 
science  as  drama-therapy  something  more  than  a 
mere  dream.  In  them  the  subject  is  dealt  with  in 
as  much  detail  as  is  consonant  with  clearness  and 
with  the  findings  of  scientific  inquiry;  and  if  the 
reader  will  follow  the  argument  carefully,  with 
a  mind  unwarped  by  preconceived  ideas,  the 
chances  are  he  will  find  that  a  curative  drama  is 
not  only  a  present  possibility,  but  that  it  presup- 
poses, also,  only  a  mere  extension  in  the  appli- 
cation of  known  laws.  He  will  find,  moreover, 
that  these  laws  themselves,  as  well  as  their  ex- 
tended application  through  the  medium  of  the 
stage,  are  understandable  and  simple  in  the  ex- 
treme. And  if  these  findings  be  sound,  and  if 
the  amelioration  even  of  the  most  minor  disorders 
can,  in  very  fact,  be  made  an  appanage  of  author- 
ship, it  is  at  once  apparent  that  the  subject  of 
drama-therapy  is  of  prime  importance,  not  only 
to  the  writer  and  to  all  branches  of  the  theatrical 
profession,  but  to  the  general  public  as  well. 

It  is  because  of  such  considerations  that  the 


FOREWORD 

author  commends  the  contents  of  the  present  vol- 
ume to  the  thoughtful  attention  of  the  reader. 

Before  closing  these  preliminary  remarks  there 
is  another  point  that  deserves  mention:  since  the 
inception  of  this  book  a  number  of  writers  have 
begun  working  definitely  for  the  goal  herein  in- 
dicated. These  men  and  women,  assembled  in 
the  first  instance  by  a  sympathy  of  aims  and 
ideals,  have,  for  purposes  of  practical  co-opera- 
tion in  the  creation  and  disposal  of  their  work, 
banded  together  into  a  literary  fraternity,  styling 
themselves  Sopherim.  This  society  invites  cor- 
respondence with  all  creative  workers,  literary  or 
otherwise,  who  feel  an  interest  in  the  aims  ex- 
pressed in  this  volume. 

THE  AUTHOR, 
New  York, 

January  1,  1917. 

The  Bramhall  Playhouse, 

138  East  27th  Street. 


CHAPTER  I 

THE  FACTORS  or  PERSONALITY 

THERE  is  today  a  formidable  array  of  vol- 
umes dealing  with  the  drama,  but,  although 
the  delineation  of  human  character  is  the  one  aim 
of  the  dramatic  art,  few  writers  upon  the  subject 
have  devoted  any  great  amount  of  space  to 
the  consideration  of  the  one  fundamental  factor — 
that  is,  to  human  personality  itself.  This  basic 
error  the  present  volume  hopes  to  avoid  by  con- 
sidering briefly,  first,  the  factor  of  personality  as 
it  appears  in  the  individual;  secondly,  the  factor 
of  personality  as  it  appears  in  the  group;  and 
finally,  after  moderately  definite  ideas  in  regard 
to  personality  itself  have  been  formulated,  to  de- 
duce a  method  by  which  these  ideas  may  find  prac- 
tical application  in  dramatic  composition.  Ap- 
proached in  this  manner  the  chances  are  that  a 
discussion  of  the  laws  of  dramaturgy  will  lead  us 
into  most  interesting  fields. 

If  the  reader  were  asked  to  define  human  per- 
sonality he  would  probably  reply  that  it  con- 
sists of  body  and  mind ;  and  his  definition  would 
be  perfectly  right  as  far  as  it  goes,  the  only 
trouble  being  that  it  does  not  go  deep  enough. 
Let  us,  then,  examine  these  two  component  parts 
of  personality  and  see  whether  or  not  they  may 
not  be  subjected  to  further  analysis. 


2  PRINCIPLES  OF  DRAMA-THERAPY 

The  body  has  always  been  easily  available  for 
study,  and  today  we  are  fairly  well  acquainted 
with  its  composition,  structure  and  functioning, 
as  our  text-books  upon  anatomy  and  physiology 
show.  But  however  we  subject  its  various  tis- 
sues to  chemical  analysis  the  result  is  always  the 
same — the  body  consists  simply  of  so  much  mat- 
ter in  varying  degrees  of  organization.  And  al- 
though our  views  of  matter  itself  have  under- 
gone a  most  decided  change  during  the  past  dec- 
ade, still,  for  present  purposes,  it  is  sufficient 
to  regard  it  as  the  basic  element  in  the  economy 
of  the  body. 

And  during  the  last  century  and  a  quarter 
scientists  have  been  subjecting  the  second  mem- 
ber of  personality,  the  mind,  to  similar  searching 
inquiry  under  the  general  heading  of  psychol- 
ogy. The  results  of  these  investigations  have 
been  uniformly  the  same;  the  mind  has  always 
been  found  to  consist  of  two  basic  elements  each 
of  which  is  incapable  of  further  analysis.  This 
conclusion  was  reached  in  the  following  fashion: 

It  was  observed  that  in  the  normal  state  the 
mind  was  able  to  reason  both  inductively  and  de- 
ductively. In  certain  abnormal  states,  however, 
all  inductive  ability  disappeared  leaving  only  the 
deductive  mind,  or  portion  of  the  mind,  active. 

Deductive  reasoning  is  the  pure  syllogism, 
which,  starting  with  given  premises,  shows  why 


THE  FACTORS  OF  PERSONALITY  6 

such  and  such  a  conclusion  must  necessarily  fol- 
low. Any  or  all  of  the  premises  may  be  false, 
and  consequently  the  conclusion  may  be  absurd 
and  erroneous — but  to  discover  fallacies  in  a 
premise  is  not  the  province  of  the  deductive 
method. 

Inductive  reasoning,  on  the  other  hand,  com- 
pares a  number  of  isolated  facts  until  it  per- 
ceives the  common  factor  embodied  in  all.  It  is 
thus  concerned  not  with  drawing  the  logical  con- 
clusion proceeding  from  given  premises,  but 
rather  with  selecting  and  determining  the  truth 
of  each  and  every  premise  itself. 

Now  if  the  reader  will  carefully  consider  these 
two  diametrically  opposite  modes  of  mental  ac- 
tivity, he  will  see  that  inductive  reasoning  im- 
plies a  power  of  totally  independent  action  on 
the  part  of  the  thinking  entity.  And  a  state- 
ment of  the  power  of  independent  action  is, 
again,  nothing  more  nor  less  than  a  statement  of 
the  power  of  choice,  or  of  the  ability  to  originate 
trains  of  causation.  We  cannot  avoid  the  infer- 
ence, therefore,  that  there  is,  occluded  away  in 
every  personality,  an  element  whose  distinguish- 
ing characteristic  is  its  ability  to  select  and  to 
originate. 

Deductive  reasoning,  on  the  other  hand,  im- 
plies no  such  power  of  independent  action.  In- 
deed, the  deductive  method  cannot  be  entered 


4  PRINCIPLES  OF  DRAMA-THERAPY 

into  until  some  premise  has  been  selected;  there- 
fore that  element  in  the  mind  which  reasons  only 
in  this  fashion,  is  not  identical  with,  but  rather 
presupposes  the  existence,  and  the  action,  of  an 
originative  element. 

Thus  our  initial  definition  of  human  person- 
ality must  be  revised,  for  instead  of  being  merely 
a  composition  of  mind  and  body,  it  consists 
rather  of  an  originative  element,  a  deductive 
element,  and  a  material  element. 

All  we  can  ever  know  of  the  originative  mem- 
ber of  human  personality  must  be  gleaned  by 
observing  its  action  as  it  manifests  through  the 
conscious  faculties  of  the  individual.  These, 
since  they  are  able  to  reason  both  inductively  and 
deductively,  appear  to  be,  like  personality  itself, 
a  synthetic  product — a  composite,  as  it  were,  of 
an  originative  member  and  a  deductive  member, 
as  these  two  factors  function  simultaneously 
through  their  physical  instrument,  the  brain.  For 
the  connection  between  the  conscious,  or  objec- 
tive, faculties  and  the  brain  is  intimate  in  the  ex- 
treme, the  state  of  the  latter  at  any  given  time 
conditioning  the  functioning  of  the  former. 

In  regard  to  the  second  member  of  human 
personality,  however,  we  are  much  more  for- 
tunately situated;  for,  as  has  been  said,  in  cer- 
tain abnormal  states  all  power  of  origination  dis- 
appears, leaving  the  deductive  mind,  or  portion 


THE  FACTORS  OF  PERSONALITY  5 

of  the  mind,  dominant.  When  this  condition 
supervenes  its  functioning  and  its  effects  can  be 
observed  with  the  greatest  clarity.  Now  it  is 
this  mind,  or  portion  of  the  mind,  to  which  psy- 
chologists have  affixed  the  names  subconscious  or 
subjective,  that  is  active  in  hypnosis,  and  that 
gives  rise  to  the  hypnotic  phenomena.  And  here 
it  may  be  noted  that  the  subjective  mind  is  by 
no  means  dependent  upon  the  brain,  but  seems 
to  function  indifferently  throughout  the  entire 
body. 

The  phenomena  of  hypnosis  are  most  varied  in 
kind,  and  some  are  more  or  less  startling  in  na- 
ture; but  one  and  all  reveal  the  fact  that  the 
psychic  element  from  which  they  spring,  has,  to 
produce  them,  been  acting  in  accordance  with 
some  premise  conveyed  to  it  from  a  source  pos- 
sessing the  power  of  selection  and  of  origination. 
Sometimes  the  premise  originates  in  the  conscious 
faculties  of  the  individual  himself,  and  when  this 
occurs  the  resulting  phenomenon  is  said  to  have 
been  induced  by  self -hypnosis,  or  by  auto-sug- 
gestion. Or  the  premise  may  originate  in  the 
conscious  faculties  of  another.  In  this  case  the 
result  is  said  to  have  been  induced  simply  by 
suggestion,  and  should  be  classed  among  the 
phenomena  of  hypnotism. 

This  does  not  mean,  however,  that  the  impulse 
to  which  the  subjective  element  responds  can  pro- 


O  PRINCIPLES  OF  DRAMA-THERAPY 

ceed  only  from  the  objective  faculties  of  the  in- 
dividual himself  or  those  of  another,  for  this 
would  restrict  the  action  of  the  originative  ele- 
ment to  the  realm  of  consciousness.  It  means 
simply  that  the  originative  impulse  frequently 
comes  by  way  of  the  objective  route.  When  it 
does,  it  comes  in  the  shape  of  a  concept,  or  an 
idea. 

From  these  considerations  it  appears  that  the 
psychic,  or  subjective,  element  is  entirely  under 
the  control  of  the  originative  element;  in  fact, 
that  is  what  the  term  subjective  implies.  Of  it- 
self it  is  inert  and  dead  until  set  in  motion  by  the 
action  of  its  associate.  Once,  however,  it  has  been 
set  in  motion  and  has  been  provided  with  its  nec- 
essary premise — in  the  shape  of  a  concept,  or  an 
idea,  if  the  impulse  come  by  way  of  the  conscious 
route — it  proceeds  to  work  upon  it  deductively, 
and  to  carry  it  out  to  its  most  rigorously  logical 
result,  its  power  in  this  respect  appearing  to  be 
almost  unlimited.  Thus  it  is  that  the  psychic 
element  is  receptive  and  executive  in  nature,  its 
mode  of  action  being  always  determined  by  the 
nature  of  the  premise  selected  by  its  originative 
mate. 

But  a  careful  consideration  of  the  hypnotic 
phenomena  reveals  more  than  this :  it  reveals  the 
fact  that  the  same  determining  relation  which  sub- 
sists between  the  originative  element  and  the 


THE   FACTORS  OF  PERSONALITY  7 

psychic  element,  subsists,  also,  between  the  psychic 
element  and  the  third  member  of  personality — 
i.e.  the  body.  And  it  is  just  this  determining  re- 
lation of  the  psychic  element  to  the  body  which 
renders  the  sciences  of  psycho-therapy  and  psy- 
cho-analysis possible,  and  which  will  explain, 
moreover,  all  phenomena  of  religious  healing. 
Concerning  its  mode  and  extent  more  will  be  said 
later  on. 

Thus  again  we  must  modify  our  definition  of 
human  personality.  It  is,  it  appears,  like  a  mathe- 
matical ratio  of  three  terms — an  originative  ele- 
ment, a  psychic  element,  and  a  material  element 
— in  which  the  psychic  element  bears  to  the  other 
two  the  relation  of  the  mean  to  the  extremes. 
Thus,  denoting  the  terms  by  x,  y}  and  z,  respect- 
ively, x  is  to  y  as  y  is  to  z:  or  simply,  x \y\\y  \z.  If 
this  formula  be  borne  in  mind  it  will  make  much 
that  follows  clearer. 

Now,  from  the  above,  we  may  draw  the  practi- 
cal inference  that,  if  the  three  factors  named  con- 
stitute the  living  personality,  the  fact  of  life  con- 
sists of  the  interaction  which  normally  takes  place 
among  these  three  component  parts. 


CHAPTER  II 

THE  COMPOSITE  PERSONALITY 

The  mesmeric,  or  as  it  is  now  called,  the  hyp- 
notic state,  presents  a  condition  in  which  there  is 
no  longer  the  normal  interaction  of  an  element 
which  originates  and  an  element  which  receives 
and  executes,  functioning  simultaneously  through 
their  usual  instrument,  a  single  human  body.  On 
the  contrary,  it  presents  an  analysis  of  these  fac- 
tors, the  operator,  or  hypnotizer,  assuming  the  role 
of  the  originative  member,  and  the  subject,  or  per- 
son hypnotized,  playing  the  part  of  the  passive, 
receptive  and  executive  member — while  their  col- 
lective brain  and  body  provides  the  physical  in- 
strument through  which  the  composite  personality 
thus  formed  functions. 

Such  a  composite  personality  is  by  no  means 
a  new  thing  in  the  natural  order.  It  will  be  re- 
membered that  the  first  appearance  of  life  was 
as  a  single  cell  which,  if  we  grant  the  evolutionary 
hypothesis,  must  have  contained  within  itself  both 
the  originative  and  the  executive  elements.  At 
this  point,  it  should  be  noted,  reproduction  is  by 
means  of  simple  cell  division. 

Later  on,  however,  one  individual  assumed  the 
originative,  and  another  the  receptive  and  execu- 
tive, roles:  and  when  their  assumption  of  these 
two  roles  was  complete  the  individuals  had  be- 


THE  COMPOSITE  PERSONALITY  9 

come  male  and  female  cells  respectively.  Thence- 
forth, reproduction  was  accomplished  by  the 
action  of  the  originative  male  upon  the  receptive 
and  executive  female — the  product  springing, 
after  a  period  of  incubation,  directly  from  the 
executive,  formative  member.  At  this  point  the 
male  and  female  cells,  considered  as  a  unit,  con- 
stitute a  composite  personality,  reproducing  in 
and  among  its  component  parts  the  same  elements 
and  relations  which  subsisted  upon  the  inside  in 
the  case  of  the  sexless  cell  of  the  earlier  stage. 

Yet  later  the  same  life-impulse  which  had  re- 
sulted in  the  integration  of  male  and  female  ele- 
ments appears  to  have  drawn  the  cells,  for  pur- 
poses of  subsistence,  together  into  a  cell-colony. 
When  this  secondary  process  of  integration  was 
complete  the  colony,  and  not  the  cell,  had  become 
the  individual.  This  is  true  as  far  down  in  the 
biological  scale  as  the  lower  order  of  sponges, 
the  first  intimation  of  the  process  appearing, 
among  existing  species,  with  Volvox  Globator — 
a  point  where  animal  life  is  scarcely  yet  differen- 
tiated from  the  vegetable. 

With  the  new  organisms  thus  formed  the  ear- 
liest method  of  reproduction  was  by  means  of 
budding — a  process  in  every  way  analogous  to 
the  cell  division  of  the  preceding  stage — for  here 
again  the  originative  and  formative  elements  sub- 
sist within,  and  function  through,  a  single  body. 


10  PRINCIPLES  OF  DRAMA-THERAPY 

Later,  however,  these  new  organisms,  each  com- 
posed of  millions  of  tiny  cells,  became  differen- 
tiated into  male  and  female  organisms ;  and  from 
thenceforth  reproduction  was  by  means  of  the 
action  of  the  originative  male  upon  the  receptive 
and  formative  female — the  product  springing, 
after  a  period  of  incubation,  directly  from  the 
formative  member.  At  this  point,  again,  the  male 
and  female  organisms,  considered  as  a  unit,  con- 
stitute a  composite  personality,  reproducing  upon 
the  outside  the  same  elements  and  relations  which 
subsisted  upon  the  inside  in  the  case  of  the  sexless 
organism  of  the  earlier  stage. 

Yet  higher  in  the  scale,  the  same  life-impulse 
which  had  resulted  in  the  integration  of  male  and 
female  elements,  is  seen  drawing  the  individuals, 
for  purposes  of  subsistence,  together  into  a  col- 
ony. Thus  we  have  the  social  insects  such  as  the 
ants  and  bees.  In  these  communities  each  individ- 
ual corresponds  to  a  cell  in  a  cell-colony;  the 
only  difference  is  that  they  have  been  welded 
simply  into  a  group,  and  not  into  a  single  body. 
That  larger  and  overruling  individuality,  how- 
ever, which  always  results  from  these  processes  of 
integration,  appears  as  such  a  distinct  entity  that 
writers  upon  the  subject  have  recognized  it,  and 
have  named  it  the  spirit  of  the  hive. 

If,  in  the  case  of  the  ants  and  bees,  this  proc- 
ess of  integration  were  carried  a  step  further, 


THE  COMPOSITE  PERSONALITY  11 

we  might  conceive  of  the  hive  or  the  ant-hill  as 
becoming  the  individual — at  first  devoid  of  sex, 
and  reproducing  by  a  process  analogous  to  cell- 
fission.  Later,  however,  sex  would  appear  among 
the  individuals  thus  formed,  and  thereafter  gen- 
eration would  be  accomplished  by  means  of  the 
action  of  the  originative  male  upon  the  receptive 
and  formative  female.  And  these  two,  consid- 
ered as  a  unit,  would  constitute  another  compos- 
ite personality,  and  would  supply  the  starting- 
point  for  yet  another  process  of  integration, 
which,  when  complete,  would  give  rise  to  another 
sexless  product. 

In  terms  of  human  beings  the  same  process  is 
repeated,  for  if  men  and  women  be  considered  as 
the  units,  reproduction  is  by  means  of  sex.  How- 
ever, if  the  composite  personality  of  the  family  be 
regarded  as  the  unit,  the  originative  and  forma- 
tive elements  subsist  within,  and  function  through, 
the  unit  itself,  and  reproduction  is  by  means  of 
budding. 

Thus  the  terms  of  the  evolutionary  or  creative 
process  are  clear,  for  they  consist  of  nothing  more 
nor  less  than  a  series  of  analyses  and  integrations 
of  the  originative  and  formative  elements,  which 
subsist  within  the  evolving  and  procreating  en- 
tities. Each  successive  analysis  or  integration 
takes  place,  however,  always  at  a  higher  level. 

But,  whether  the  interaction  take  place  upon 


12  PRINCIPLES  OF  DRAMA-THERAPY 

the  interior  plane,  as  in  the  case  of  the  sexless 
organisms,  or  upon  the  exterior  plane  between 
fully  developed  male  and  female  entities,  creation, 
it  should  be  remembered,  is  always  the  result  of 
the  action  of  an  originative  element  upon  a  recep- 
tive and  formative  one.  And,  no  matter  how  we 
may  delude  ourselves  into  thinking  otherwise, 
this  is  the  only  process  that  has  yet  appeared  either 
in  the  evolutionary  or  in  the  human  scheme.  For 
the  same  elements  and  relations  that  have  given 
rise  to  the  biological  tree  are  at  work  in  the  group, 
the  state  and  the  nation.  In  industry,  for  in- 
stance, it  is  the  action  of  originative  capital  upon 
receptive  and  executive  labor  that  gives  rise  to  the 
commercial  product — the  product  springing, 
after  its  period  of  formation,  directly  from  the 
executive  member.  And  an  analysis  of  any  gath- 
ering, or  of  any  organization,  will  reveal  a  dupli- 
cation and  a  reduplication  of  these  same  elements 
and  relations,  and  of  this  same  interaction  taking 
place  among  them. 

But  let  us  return  to  the  phenomenon  of  hypno- 
tism, which,  as  has  been  said,  presents  an  analysis 
of  those  factors  which  comprise  the  individual, 
and  which  is,  also,  the  first  step  in  forming  that 
composite  personality  which  appears  in  all  groups. 

The  state  itself  is  produced  through  the  opera- 
tion of  the  one  process  mentioned  above :  the  oper- 
ator assumes  the  originative,  masculine  role,  and 


THE  COMPOSITE  PERSONALITY  13 

the  subject  the  receptive,  feminine  one.  But  in  or- 
der to  make  the  subject's  assumption  of  the  femi- 
nine role  complete,  the  control  of  his  conscious  fac- 
ulties must  be  removed,  for  it  will  be  remembered 
that  the  conscious  faculties  possess  the  power  of 
origination.  This  is  accomplished  by  fixing  the 
subject's  attention — in  other  words,  by  prohibit- 
ing for  a  time  any  act  of  conscious  origination. 
Conversely,  the  operator  assumes  a  bearing  of 
authority — he  is  nothing  if  not  originative.  He 
then  begins  to  suggest  to  the  subject  the  state 
which  he  desires  to  produce.  He  does  this  with- 
out arousing  opposition,  for  opposition  would  im- 
ply an  act  of  origination  and  would  call  the  con- 
scious faculties  back  into  play.  And  when  the 
idea  of  the  state  desired  has,  by  dint  of  reiteration, 
become  fixed  in  the  subject's  mind,  his  executive, 
psychic  fabric,  having  accepted  it  as  a  premise, 
works  it  out  to  its  rigorously  logical  conclusion; 
and  the  state  is,  in  reality,  quickly  produced.  The 
subject  is  then  said  to  be  hypnotized,  and  to  be 
en  rapport  with  the  operator,  his  only  source  of 
conscious  origination. 

Thus  a  new  personality  consisting  of  an  origi- 
native member,  a  psychic  member,  and  a  physical 
instrument  through  which  they  function,  has  been 
built  up. 


CHAPTER  III 
THE  BASIC  CONCEPT 

Now  that  we  have  analyzed  the  factors  of 
human  personality  and  have  them  embodied 
before  us  in  the  persons  of  the  operator  and  the 
subject,  we  are  in  a  position  intelligently  to  ob- 
serve the  interaction  that  goes  on  between  them. 

And  the  first  point  to  be  noted  is  this:  there 
is,  operating  within  the  psychic  fabric  of  the  sub- 
ject, that  suggestion  which  was  employed  by  the 
operator  to  produce  the  state.  This  suggestion, 
with  the  idea  involved  in  it,  acts  as  a  basic  concept: 
it  is  the  foundation  upon  which  the  structure  of 
the  state  has  been  built;  and,  since  the  psychic  ele- 
ment acts  only  from  a  deductive  standpoint,  we 
shall  now  expect  the  subject  to  display  no  activity 
and  no  phenomenon  that  is  not  included  in  this 
basic  concept,  or  that  does  not  spring  logically 
from  it.  The  subject  is  thus  shut  up  within  a 
circle  the  confines  of  which  are  determined  by  the 
breadth  of  the  basic  concept  which  has  given  rise 
to  the  state.  This  circle  prescribes  limits  even  to 
the  activity  of  the  operator  himself,  for  he  can 
induce  in  the  subject  no  phenomena  that  contra- 
dict this  basic  concept. 

What  the  operator  can  do,  however,  is  to  sub- 
stitute for  any  given  state  another  state  based 
upon  a  broader  concept;  and  as  soon  as  this  is 

14 


THE  BASIC  CONCEPT  15 

done  the  subject  Mail  display  new  activities  cor- 
responding to  the  new  state. 

This,  the  necessity  of  a  basic  concept,  is  a  point 
that  should  always  be  borne  in  mind,  for  it  is  of 
prime  importance  in  attempting  those  wider  ap- 
plications of  which  the  laws  of  suggestive  therapy 
logically  admit.  It  has,  moreover,  important 
bearings  upon  education,  upon  insanity,  and,  in 
fact,  upon  every  phase  of  human  life.  For  in  the 
psychic  fabric  of  every  one  of  us,  no  less  than  in 
the  psychic  member  of  the  composite  personality 
which  we  have  been  considering,  basic  concepts 
are  at  work  which  determine  and  limit  the  activi- 
ties. 

It  is  this  necessity  of  a  basic  concept  which 
gives  rise  to  the  various  phases  of  hypnosis,  each 
with  its  peculiar  phenomena,  a  few  of  which  will 
now  be  considered. 

The  suggestion  usually  employed  to  produce 
the  hypnotic  state  contains  as  its  basic  concept 
the  idea  of  sleep.  When  this  suggestion  has  be- 
come operative  in  the  psychic  fabric  the  subject 
exhibits  only  those  phenomena  that  are  included 
under  that  caption.  The  muscles  are  relaxed ;  the 
senses  are  dormant,  or  only  slightly  active.  This 
stage  is  called  the  lethargic  stage,  because  leth- 
argy is  its  dominant  characteristic. 

However,  if  the  suggestion  employed  convey, 
not  the  idea  of  sleep,  but,  let  us  say,  the  idea  of 


16  PRINCIPLES  OF  DRAMA-THEEAPY 

fright,  a  totally  different  state  is  produced.  It 
is  characterized  by  a  statuesque  immobility.  The 
muscles  are  rigid  and  will  retain  the  most  diffi- 
cult postures  for  hours  without  apparent  fatigue. 
This  phase  is  called  the  cataleptic  stage.  In  it 
the  subject  is  little  more  than  an  automaton. 

Catalepsy  may  be  induced,  in  general  terms, 
by  the  application  of  any  stimulus  that  implies 
recoil.  A  thunder-clap,  or  the  sounding  of  an 
unexpected  gong,  is  often  sufficient  to  cause  it 
in  persons  of  a  nervous  temperament.  A  ray  of 
light  falling  upon  the  eye  of  a  subject  in  the 
lethargic  state  will  produce  it  instantly.  In  the 
animal  world  the  phenomenon  of  catalepsy  plays 
a  conspicuous  role,  for  to  it  zoologists  attribute 
the  immobility  of  birds  and  of  small  mammals 
under  the  gaze  of  certain  reptiles.  Those  insects, 
also,  which  feign  death  upon  being  touched,  have, 
without  doubt,  been  thrown  into  a  cataleptic  con- 
dition. 

But  if  the  suggestion  employed  to  produce  an 
hypnotic  state  contain  as  its  basic  concept,  not 
the  idea  of  dormance,  nor  the  idea  of  recoil,  but, 
let  us  say,  an  idea  of  increased  activity  along  one 
or  more  lines,  yet  a  third  state  is  produced  which  is 
often  as  far  above  normal  as  the  states  of  lethargy 
and  catalepsy  are  below.  This  is  called  the  som- 
nambulistic stage,  and  to  it  the  real  wonders  of 
hypnotism  belong,  including  phenomena  of  per- 


THE  BASIC  CONCEPT  17 

ception  and  of  ideation  which  appear  to  set  time 
and  space  at  naught.  These  will  be  reverted  to 
later  on. 

The  foregoing  are  typical  and  frequently  oc- 
current  hypnotic  states;  and,  since  the  sole  condi- 
tion of  hypnotism  is  that  some  concept  shall  be- 
come dominant  in  the  psychic  fabric  to  the  ex- 
clusion of  objective  control,  one  may  postulate 
any  number  of  hypnotic  states,  each  taking  its 
character  from  the  nature  of  that  concept.  And 
many  types  of  insanity,  as  well  as  moments  of  in- 
tense creative  activity,  are,  without  doubt,  self- 
induced  hypnotic  states. 

But,  no  matter  how  great  the  number  of  pos- 
sible hypnotic  states  may  be,  the  basic  concepts 
which  give  rise  to  them  must,  of  necessity,  fall 
under  one  of  two  general  headings.  They  must 
be  either  positive  or  negative  with  respect  to  the 
individual:  they  must  be  either  concepts  of  good 
or  concepts  of  bad.  If  they  are  negative  with  re- 
spect to  the  individual,  the  states  to  which  they 
give  rise  are  states  of  depression,  and  the  phe- 
nomena pertaining  to  those  states  are  phenomena 
of  subnormality .  If,  however,  they  are  positive 
with  respect  to  the  individual,  the  resulting  states 
are  states  of  stimulation  whose  phenomena  are 
supernormal  in  nature. 

From  these  considerations  we  may  draw  the 
practical  inference  that  the  psychic  element  is  per- 


18  PRINCIPLES  OF  DRAMA-THERAPY 

petually  in  a  state  of  becoming — a  becoming  that 
may  consist  of  a  diminishing  or  an  augmenting, 
of  a  deadening  or  a  quickening,  according  to  the 
nature  of  the  basic  concept  operating  in  it  at  the 
time. 

But  whether  the  concept  operative  at  any  given 
time  result  in  depression  or  in  stimulation,  it 
should  be  remembered  that  the  ability  to  change 
the  state  by  altering  the  basic  concept  must  for- 
ever reside  in  the  originative  member  of  the  per- 
sonality. Thus,  in  the  composite  personality  which 
we  are  now  considering,  the  skilful  operator  is 
able  to  change  lethargy  into  catalepsy  and  cata- 
lepsy into  somnambulism  at  will.  He  may  even 
produce  one  phase  in  one  half  of  the  body  and  an- 
other phase  in  the  other  half  at  the  same  time — 
a  circumstance  which  has  revealed  important 
anatomical  relations. 

Here  it  may  interest  the  reader  to  know  that  the 
psychic  entity,  or,  if  he  prefer,  the  soul,  residing 
in  every  one  of  us,  is  none  other  than  "the  poor 
little  girl"  of  fairy-tale.  At  first  she  was  hor- 
ribly maltreated,  and,  according  to  many  of  the 
stories,  was  clad  only  in  rags,  and  in  very  dirty 
rags  at  that.  Later,  however,  as  in  many  of  the 
versions  of  Cinderella,  her  apparel  was  woven  "of 
sunlight — of  the  stars  and  of  night — and  of 
the  pink  tints  of  morning."  And  always  in  the 
end  she  is  wedded  to  the  Prince. 


CHAPTER  IV 

THE  BECOMING  OF  THE  BODY 

It  was  pointed  out  in  the  opening  chapter  that 
the  psychic  element  bears  to  the  body  the  same 
determining  relation  that  the  originative  mem- 
ber of  personality  bears  to  the  psychic.  And  this 
determining  relation  is  well  illustrated  in  the 
common  vaudeville  trick  where  the  hypnotic 
operator  often  induces  catalepsy  to  such  an  ex- 
tent that  the  subject,  with  only  the  extremities 
of  the  body  supported,  is  able  to  sustain  the  com- 
bined weight  of  four  or  five  men. 

This  influence  of  the  condition  of  the  psychic 
element  upon  the  condition  of  its  physical  instru- 
ment, however,  extends  far  deeper  than  mere  mat- 
ters of  muscular  contraction.  In  fact,  by  tests 
conducted  in  the  psychic  clinic,  it  has  been  found 
to  extend  to,  and  to  condition,  every  process  of 
the  body,  from  the  functioning  of  the  glands  and 
organs  to  such  interior  matters  as  circulation, 
excretion  of  the  cells,  and  even  growth. 

Fifteen  years  ago  the  scientific  world  was  far 
from  accepting  the  psychic  element  in  the  role  of 
determining  agent  in  bodily  conditions;  and  the 
reason  for  this  was  that  the  average  man  of  medi- 
cine viewed  the  body  itself  as  a  cause,  and  not 
simply  as  an  effect.  This  fundamental  fallacy 
arose,  it  would  seem,  from  the  apparent  rigidity 

19 


20  PRINCIPLES  OF  DRAMA-THERAPY 

of  matter  when  viewed  from  the  outside.  And 
yet,  if  he  had  only  remembered  that  the  matter  of 
which  the  body  is  composed  had  itself  gone 
through  successive  stages  of  organization  and 
growth,  from  the  fertilized  ovum  so  small  as  to 
be  almost  microscopic,  on  up  into  the  adult  being, 
he  could  scarcely  have  avoided  the  inference  that, 
from  the  standpoint  of  the  interior  power  which 
thus  organizes  it,  matter  is — must  be — a  perfect- 
ly plastic  substance  to  be  shaped  and  molded  at 
will. 

Now  the  point  of  chief  interest  is  this:  since  the 
close  of  the  last  century  the  final  analysis  of  mat- 
ter has  been  accomplished :  and  we  now  know,  by 
tests  of  actual  experiment,  that  matter,  in  its  in- 
most nature,  is  just  the  perfectly  plastic  substance 
which  we  might  have  inferred  it  to  be  by  observ- 
ing the  phenomenon  of  growth.  And  we  are 
reasonably  certain  of  a  little  more  than  this:  we 
are  now  reasonably  certain  that  matter  has  no 
existence  in  itself,  but  is  simply  a  condition  of  the 
primary  ether  out  of  which  all  forms  appear  at 
last  analysis  to  have  been  concentrated. 

These  truths  find  their  respective  scientific  ex- 
pression in  the  Corpuscular  and  Electronic  the- 
ories of  matter,  and  because  of  their  importance 
the  author  has  subjoined,  on  page  107,  a  brief 
statement  of  the  theories  themselves,  together  with 
an  account  of  the  discoveries  which  led  up  to  them. 


THE  BECOMING  OF  THE  BODY  21 

When  this,  the  now  definitely  ascertained  na- 
ture of  matter,  is  borne  in  mind,  it  is  no  longer 
difficult  to  ascribe  to  the  psychic  element  a  deter- 
mining role  in  relation  to  the  body,  nor  to  explain 
the  phenomenon  of  psychic  cure — nor,  indeed, 
such  bizarre  occurrences  as  cases  of  stigmatiza- 
tion,  or  the  spontaneous  appearance  upon  the 
flesh  of  blisters,  wounds,  scars,  or  other  disfigur- 
ing marks,  of  which  the  history  of  miracle  is  full. 

In  F.  W.  H.  Myers'  work,  Human  Person- 
ality (Vol.  1;  p.  492  ff.),  the  reader  will  find  the 
records  of  two  cases  of  stigmatization  which  illus- 
trate in  the  most  striking  manner  the  power  of 
the  psychic  element  in  producing  effects  upon 
the  body.  Both  involve  the  periodic  appearance 
of  bloody  marks  upon  the  flesh.  They  differ, 
however,  in  that  in  the  first  case  the  suggestion 
which  afterwards  externalized  as  the  stigmata, 
was  conveyed  to  the  subject  while  in  a  state  of 
hypnosis;  while  in  the  second,  the  suggestion 
clearly  originated  in  the  conscious  faculties  of  the 
subject  herself. 

It  is  from  the  consideration  of  such  cases  as 
these,  and  scores  of  others,  that  we  have  arrived 
at  the  practical  inference  that  the  body,  like  the 
psychic  element  itself,  is  continually  in  a  state  of 
becoming — a  becoming  that  may  at  any  time  con- 
sist of  a  diminishing  or  an  augmenting,  of  a  dis- 
integrating or  of  an  integrating.  And  since  the 


22  PRINCIPLES  OF  DRAMA-THERAPY 

psychic  element  bears  a  determining  relation  to 
the  body,  it  should  be  noted  that  the  becoming  of 
the  latter  depends  upon  the  nature  of  the  basic 
concepts  operative  in  the  psychic  fabric  at  the 
time.  As  has  been  said,  it  is  upon  the  truth  of 
this  induction  that  the  twin  sciences  of  psycho- 
therapy and  psycho-analysis  are  based. 

These  two  sciences  are,  respectively,  the  ob- 
verse and  the  reverse  of  the  coin:  they  are  sim- 
ilar in  that  striking  cures  have  been  effected  by 
both.  These  results,  however,  are  arrived  at  by 
diametrically  opposite  methods. 

The  method  of  the  psycho-analyst,  stated  in 
general  terms,  is  as  follows:  when  confronted 
with  a  depressed,  diseased  condition,  the  phy- 
sician assumes  that  the  body  has  already  under- 
gone a  certain  amount  of  disintegration  by  vir- 
tue of  some  negative  basic  concept  operating  in 
the  psychic  fabric.  Experience  has  shown  that 
this  concept  usually  arises  from  some  misconcep- 
tion of  the  moral  law,  with  the  resulting  effort  on 
the  part  of  the  individual  to  repress  some  desire. 
Hence  has  arisen  the  axiom  among  one  school  of 
analysts  that,  "repression  is  the  cause  and  ex- 
pression the  cure."  Be  that  as  it  may,  however, 
the  fact  that  it  is  causing  trouble  shows  plainly 
that  the  concept  is  negative  in  nature.  It  then 
becomes  the  task  of  the  physician  to  find  and  to 
eradicate  it  from  the  psychic  fabric,  assuming 


THE  BECOMING  OF  THE  BODY  23 

that  when  this  is  done  the  body  will  undergo  a 
corresponding  change. 

But  here  a  difficulty  presents  itself:  the  patient 
seldom  knows  what  concept  it  is  that  is  causing 
the  depression.  To  bridge  this  difficulty,  there- 
fore, the  physician  often  has  recourse  to  the  pa- 
tient's dreams,  for  dreams  are  a  symbolic  state- 
ment of  that  which  is  operative  within  the  sub- 
jective depths.  These  he  records  and  analyzes, 
and  although  in  adults  their  language  is  often 
involved  and  figurative,  under  careful  scrutiny 
they  will  usually  reveal  the  dominant  concept, 
or,  as  some  prefer  to  call  it,  the  fixed  idea,  which 
is  responsible  for  the  depressed  condition. 

When  this  has  been  found,  the  remaining  por- 
tion of  the  treatment  is  simple :  it  consists  merely 
of  leading  the  patient  to  suspect  some  causal  re- 
lation between  his  idea  and  his  suffering.  And 
the  moment  that  this  is  done,  the  same  impulse 
which  led  him  to  seek  relief,  calls  his  power  of 
origination  and  selection  into  play.  He  now  no 
longer  accepts,  but  consciously  rejects,  the  idea; 
and  when  this  occurs  restoration  to  health  fol- 
lows, often  in  the  most  immediate  fashion. 

The  space  at  the  author's  disposal  does  not  per- 
mit dilation  of  this  most  interesting  subject  of 
dream  analysis,  and  consequently,  for  a  more  de- 
tailed discussion  of  its  theory,  its  technique,  and 
its  achievements,  the  reader  must  be  referred  to 


24  PRINCIPLES  OF  DRAMA-THERAPY 

standard  works  upon  the  subject.  These  he  will 
find  listed  in  the  bibliography  at  the  end  of  the 
book.  Suffice  it  to  say  simply  that  such  disorders 
as  blindness  and  paralysis  have  vanished  under 
this  modern  method  of  soul-surgery. 

Psycho-therapy,  on  the  other  hand,  takes  just 
the  opposite  approach  to  the  problem,  for  here 
the  physician,  instead  of  endeavoring  to  eradicate 
that  which  is  depressing,  seeks  rather  to  counter- 
act it  by  building  in  that  which  is  stimulating. 
To  this  end  the  hypnotic  state  is  induced,  and  the 
positive  concept  which  the  case  seems  to  require 
is  impressed  directly  upon  the  subjective  fabric 
by  means  of  suggestion. 

Thus,  Wetterstrand  in  his  work,  Hypnotism 
and  its  Application  to  Practical  Medicine  (page 
77) ,  relates  the  case  of  a  patient  in  the  last  stages 
of  tuberculosis.  Acute  suffering  had  been  occa- 
sioned by  the  failure  of  the  kidneys  to  function 
properly;  consequently  the  hypnotic  state  was 
resorted  to.  The  physician  then  suggested  a  co- 
pious excretion  of  urine,  with  the  result  that  the 
kidneys  responded  almost  immediately. 

Now,  although  in  the  literature  available  upon 
the  subject,  one  will  find  records  of  disorders 
ranging  from  moral  defects  to  organic  troubles, 
that  have  been  cured  or  ameliorated  through  its 
use,  it  should  be  observed  that  psycho-therapy,  as 
it  is  practiced,  has  one  vulnerable  point.  The 


THE  BECOMING  OF  THE  BODY  25 

physician  must  depend  upon  his  own  diagnosis  to 
tell  him  just  what  positive,  constructive  sugges- 
tion is  required.  And,  in  the  case  mentioned 
above,  the  fact  that  the  patient  died,  shows  clearly 
that  while  the  proper  functioning  of  the  kidneys 
was  desirable,  this  alone  was  not  sufficient  to  save 
life.  This  is  a  difficulty  which  the  psycho-analyst 
in  a  measure  avoids,  for,  occupying  himself  only 
with  the  excision  of  negative  concepts,  he  leaves 
the  building-up  process  to  the  recuperative  pow- 
ers of  the  patient  himself. 

It  is  just  because  of  this  difficulty  that  psycho- 
therapeutists  are  to-day  beginning  more  and  more 
to  generalize  the  positive  concepts  which  they  im- 
press upon  their  patients.  Thus,  instead  of  sug- 
gesting that  this  or  that  organ  shall  function  in  a 
normal  manner,  there  is  a  tendency  for  them  to 
suggest,  rather,  that  a  general  state  of  health 
shall  be  produced;  for  this  general  concept  of 
health  will  cover  and  correct  the  depression  of 
any  particular  part. 

However,  when  one  begins  to  generalize  posi- 
tive concepts,  one  lands,  through  sheer  sequences 
of  logic,  in  a  conception  of  the  Universal,  or 
of  Deity.  For,  turn  the  matter  which  way 
you  will,  the  terms,  Universal  and  Deity,  con- 
vey, to  the  modern  mind  at  least,  the  idea  of  a 
complete  generalization  of  all  positive  attributes. 
Consequently,  a  conception  of  Deity,  or  of  the 


26  PRINCIPLES  OF  DRAMA-THERAPY 

Universal,  is  a  complete  generalization  of  all 
positive  concepts.. 

Therefore  it  is  that,  if  a  conception  of  the  Uni- 
versal, or  of  Deity,  embodying  the  idea  of  such 
generalized  positive  attributes  as  being,  benefi- 
cence, omnipotence,  omnipresence,  etc.,  were  ade- 
quately impressed  upon  the  subjective  fabric, 
one  might  reasonably  expect  this  concept  to  act 
as  a  terrifically  constructive  agent,  sufficiently 
broad  in  its  nature  to  cover  and  to  correct  all  de- 
pressed conditions. 

And  this  is  exactly  what  takes  place  in  all  cases 
of  religious  healing,  which  are  none  the  less  di- 
vine for  being  intelligible  and  simple. 


CHAPTER  V 

THE  BECOMING  OF  THE  FACULTIES 

Physical  health  is,  of  course,  the  most  im- 
portant thing  in  the  world,  and  it  is  just 
this  circumstance  which  renders  imperative  the 
application  of  the  simple  laws  of  therapy  to 
larger  and  larger  units  of  humanity.  But  there 
is  another  phase  of  the  subject  that  must  not  be 
overlooked,  and  this  is  the  effect  of  positive,  con- 
structive concepts  upon  the  faculties. 

From  a  consideration  of  the  hypnotic  phenom- 
ena we  find  that  the  psychic  element,  which  inte- 
grates or  disintegrates  the  body  according  to  the 
nature  of  the  basic  concept  operative  in  it  at  the 
time,  also  deadens  or  quickens  the  intellectual  and 
sensory  faculties  according  to  the  same  simple 
law. 

The  deadening  of  the  faculties  is  well  illus- 
trated by  another  trick  common  upon  the  vaude- 
ville stage,  in  which  the  operator  produces  aphasia 
to  such  an  extent  that  the  subject  upon  waking 
cannot  remember  his  own  name.  And  unless  the 
.  inhibiting  suggestion  be  removed,  the  aphasia 
will  continue,  sometimes  for  years,  into  the  post- 
hypnotic  state.  In  Animal  Magnetism,  a  work 
by  Binet  and  Fere,  physicians  at  the  Salpetriere 
clinic  in  Paris,  the  reader  will  find  records  of 
many  cases  of  this  kind,  involving  the  suspension 

27 


28  PRINCIPLES  OF  DRAMA-THERAPY 

of  one  or  more  of  the  intellectual  or  sensory  fac- 
ulties, and  with  reference  either  krone,  or  to  all, 
sources  of  stimulation. 

The  psychic  element,  however,  is  just  as  ready 
to  respond  to  a  positive  premise  as  it  is  to  a  nega- 
tive, privative  one ;  and  when  it  does  the  faculties 
are  stimulated,  in  some  instances,  astonishingly 
far  above  normal.  When  occurring  in  terms  of 
the  composite  personality  of  the  psychic  clinic, 
these  phenomena  of  stimulation  are  called  som- 
nambulistic phenomena,  while  the  state  of  the  sub- 
ject is  termed  somnambulism.  When  occurring 
spontaneously  in  terms  of  the  individual  person- 
ality, however,  the  individual  himself  is  called  a 
genius,  or  a  prodigy. 

Now,  in  terms  of  the  composite  personality  of 
the  psychic  clinic,  somnambulism  results  from  any 
suggestion  that  implies  increased  activity  along 
one  or  more  lines.  If,  simply,  the  methods  of  the 
operator  stimulate  the  imagination  of  the  subject, 
somnambulism  supervenes.  If  the  method  in- 
volve continued  tax  upon  any  of  the  faculties, 
such  as  straining  to  see  or  to  hear,  this  condition 
of  extreme  lucidity  again  results.  Or,  finally, 
any  of  the  other  hypnotic  states  may  be  turned 
into  somnambulism,  often  by  mere  pressure  upon 
the  subject's  head — a  gesture  which,  through  an 
association  of  ideas  if  nothing  more,  would  con- 
vey the  required  suggestion.  And  here  it  may 


THE  BECOMING  OF  THE  FACULTIES  29 

interest  the  reader  to  note  that  the  phenomenon 
of  second  wind,  which  occurs  in  the  individual  per- 
sonality under  continued  physical  or  mental  ef- 
fort, is  nothing  more  nor  less  than  the  response 
of  the  psychic  element  to  a  premise  involving  the 
idea  of  increased  activity. 

In  somnambulism,  as  has  been  said,  all  proc- 
esses are  greatly  accelerated.  Thus,  somnam- 
bules  have  been  observed  in  whom  the  senses  had 
been  rendered  so  acute  that  they  were  able  to  fol- 
low the  scent  of  a  rose,  or  the  ticking  of  a  watch, 
at  distances  of  forty  or  fifty  feet. 

Such  alertness  of  sense  perception,  however, 
scarcely  deserves  comment  when  compared  with 
the  prodigious  feats  of  memory  which  the  som- 
nambule  is  able  to  perform.  For  in  this  state  the 
repeating  of  page  after  page  of  printed  matter, 
which  has  not  been  read,  perhaps,  in  years,  is  by 
no  means  an  infrequent  occurrence ;  such  phenom- 
ena indicating,  it  would  seem,  that  a  perfect  rec- 
ord of  all  past  impressions  subsists  within  the 
subjective  fabric — a  record  which  is  unavailable 
to  the  majority  of  us  because  of  inhibiting  and 
limiting  basic  concepts  operative  during  what  we 
are  accustomed  to  call  the  normal  state. 

In  somnambulism  the  purely  intellectual  fac- 
ulties also  show  a  commensurate  quickening.  In- 
deed, they  are  sometimes  so  nearly  instantaneous 
in  their  functioning  that  one  may  question 


30  PRINCIPLES  OF  DRAMA-THERAPY 

whether  the  act  of  reasoning  to  a  conclusion  does 
not  become  merged  in  an  immediate  perception 
of  abstract  relations.  For,  if  a  somnambule  be 
asked  to  abstract  the  square  or  cube  root  of  a 
number,  the  answer  is  frequently  forthcoming 
before  the  voice  of  the  operator  has  died  away. 
In  the  normal  state  the  abstraction  of  roots  is  a 
laborious  process :  not  so,  however,  with  the  som- 
nambule, once  he  has  been  assured  that  he  pos- 
sesses the  necessary  ability  and  knowledge. 

And  other  phenomena,  also,  which  involve,  not 
an  immediate  perception  of  abstract  relations,  but 
an  immediate  perception  of  objects  and  events 
remote  from  the  percipient  either  in  time  or  space, 
occur  frequently  in  the  somnambulistic  state. 
These  may  be  summed  up  under  the  headings  of 
clairvoyance,  clair audience,  prescience,  psychom- 
etry,  etc.,  for  a  detailed  description  of  which  the 
reader  must  again  be  referred  to  the  records  of 
the  Salpetriere  clinic.  A  good  idea  of  these  tran- 
scendental powers,  however,  may  be  gleaned  from 
a  case  which  came  under  the  personal  observation 
of  the  author  several  years  ago.  The  incident  oc- 
curred in  a  mining  camp  in  the  mountains  of  Col- 
orado, and  in  connection  with  a  very  melodra- 
matic robbery.  In  it  the  somnambules  described 
in  all  detail  a  running  fight  between  the  robbers 
and  a  sheriff's  posse — a  fight  which  had  taken 
place  several  hours  prior  to  the  sitting,  and  at  dis- 


THE  BECOMING  OF  THE  FACULTIES  31 

tances  of  from  twenty  to  thirty  miles  away.  They 
then  described  the  capture  of  the  highwaymen  by 
the  same  posse — an  event  which,  it  was  subse- 
quently learned,  did  not  take  place  until  the  fol- 
lowing day. 

Interesting  as  these  phenomena  are,  however, 
by  far  the  most  fascinating  phase  of  the  present 
question  is  the  role  played  by  the  imagination  in 
the  economy  of  the  composite  personality  of  the 
psychic  clinic.  For  it  will  be  remembered  that 
this  composite  personality,  like  the  composite  per- 
sonality of  the  family,  presents  all  of  those  ele- 
ments which  in  the  biological  world  appear  to 
have  given  rise  to  the  phenomena  of  sex  and  of 
generation.  In  other  words,  it  consists  of  an  origi- 
native, masculine  element,  and  of  a  receptive  and 
executive  feminine  element,  as  embodied  in  the 
operator  and  the  subject  respectively.  There- 
fore, startling  as  it  may  sound,  we  might  reason- 
ably expect  some  traces  of  actual  creation  to  re- 
sult from  the  interaction  of  these  two.  For  other- 
wise the  relation  between  operator  and  subject 
would  be  like  the  relation  of  two  lovers,  between 
whom  whatever  interaction  there  is  results  merely 
in  new  states  of  consciousness,  but  stops  short  of 
the  creative  act  itself.  Binet  and  Fere  set  forth 
this  sex  aspect  of  hypnotism  in  a  most  illuminat- 
ing and  fascinating  manner,  under  the  heading  of 
elective  somnambulism. 


32  PRINCIPLES  OF  DRAMA-THERAPY 

Now  it  should  be  noted  that  traces  of  actual 
creation  do  occur  in  the  psychic  clinic,  and  up  un- 
til the  present  time  have  been  a  source  of  much 
mystification  and  scientific  worry.  And  these 
traces  of  actual  creation  appear  just  as  soon  as 
the  subject's  imaging  faculty  is  stimulated  into 
activity.  The  result  is,  of  course,  the  hallucina- 
tion. 

In  popular  parlance  the  term,  hallucination ,  is 
used  to  indicate  something  that  has  no  existence 
of  its  own,  but  that  exists  merely  as  an  image 
within  the  percipient's  mind.  Such  a  definition, 
however,  can  by  no  means  be  applied  to  the  hal- 
lucinations produced  in  the  psychic  clinic.  For 
here,  although  the  projected  image  may  remain 
invisible  to  all  save  the  subject,  it  has  been  found, 
nevertheless,  successfully  to  withstand  every  test 
of  objectivity  which  the  ingenuity  of  the  oper- 
ator can  devise.  For  instance,  so  far  as  the  sub- 
ject is  concerned,  it  will  obey  all  of  the  laws  of 
optics.  An  opera-glass  will  approach  or  dis- 
tance the  image  according  to  the  end  through 
which  it  is  viewed,  while  the  glasses  themselves 
must  be  variously  adjusted  for  the  near-sighted 
and  the  far-sighted  to  enable  both  to  see  it.  A 
magnifying  glass,  moreover,  will  enlarge  the  hal- 
lucination, and  a  refracting  prism  will  double  it — 
the  amount  of  displacement  corresponding  always 
with  the  prism's  index  of  refraction.  Further- 


THE  BECOMING  OF  THE  FACULTIES  33 

more,  the  proximity  of  a  magnet  has  been  ob- 
served to  have  the  effect  of  displacing,  or  of  dis- 
persing, the  illusory  object,  although  it  has  not 
yet  been  determined  whether  this  phenomenon  is 
due  to  some  suggestive  influence  exerted  by  the 
operator  upon  the  subject,  or  to  actual  torsion  ex- 
erted by  the  magnet  upon  the  image  itself. 

In  line  with  the  above,  the  author  could  not  do 
better  than  quote  the  words  of  an  eminent  Swed- 
ish neurologist,  Fredrik  Bjornstrom,  in  regard 
to  phenomena  of  this  type  observed  at  La  Sal- 
petriere.  "Although  an  optical  illusion,"  says 
Bjornstrom,  "seem  to  be  fixed  only  in  the  brain 
of  the  one  who  sees  it,  it  yet  seems  as  though  the 
hallucinator  possesses  a  certain  power  of  giving 
the  image  some  kind  of  physical  fixation  in  re- 
ality." Then,  after  citing  several  instances  in 
which  the  image  withstood  all  tests  of  objectiv- 
ity, he  continues:  "If  the  spiritualist  were  asked 
to  explain  such  phenomena  he  would  immediately 
have  on  hand  an  answer  that  would  solve  the 
enigma ;  his  doctrine  of  materialization — if  it  were 
only  true.  For  he  claims  in  the  human  spirit,  as 
in  the  absolute  Spirit  of  the  Universe,  a  certain 
creative  power,  and  does  not  consider  it  impos- 
sible that  the  optical  illusion  of  man,  projected 
from  the  eye,  deposits  a  fine  ethereal  substance, 
which  imperceptible  to  ordinaiy  eyes  is  yet  easily 
visible  to  eyes  sharpened  by  hypnotism.  ...  It 


34  PRINCIPLES  OF  DRAMA-THERAPY 

must  be  reserved  for  future  science  to  solve  this 
enigma;  the  science  of  today  can  only  acknowl- 
edge its  want  of  power  in  this  respect."  This 
comment  was  made  some  years  prior  to  the  dis- 
covery of  radium  and  the  advent  of  the  Corpus- 
cular and  Electronic  theories  of  matter. 

Now,  from  the  foregoing  considerations  it 
would  appear  that  the  faculties,  like  the  body, 
are  continually  in  a  state  of  becoming — a  be- 
coming that  may  at  any  time  consist  of  a  dimin- 
ishing or  an  augmenting,  of  a  deadening  or  a 
quickening — according  to  the  nature  of  the  basic 
concept  operative  in  the  psychic  fabric.  Since 
this  is  so,  we  would  therefore  expect  the  highest 
states,  and  the  most  varied  and  supernormal  phe- 
nomena, to  occur  in  those  cases  in  which  the  basic 
concept  most  nearly  approaches  a  complete  gen- 
eralization of  all  positive  concepts — or  in  other 
words,  an  idea  of  the  Universal. 

And  not  only  do  experiments  with  the  com- 
posite personality  of  the  psychic  clinic  bear  this 
supposition  out,  but  history  offers  corroborative 
testimony  in  terms  of  the  individual  personality. 
For  the  very  highest  states  of  consciousness,  and 
the  most  supernormal  powers,  have  occurred  uni- 
formly in  the  case  of  those  whose  conscious 
thought  was  most  habitually  occupied  with  con- 
ceptions of  Deity  as  omnipotent,  omniscient  and 
omnipresent  Being. 


CHAPTER  VI 

THE  ORGANISM  OF  THE  THEATER 

"The  world's  a  stage,"  wrote  William  Shakes- 
peare, and  for  three  hundred  years  critics  and 
authors  have  been  content  to  let  it  go  at  that.  But 
the  converse  is  equally  true  and  is  much  more  il- 
luminating— the  stage  is  a  world  and,  as  the 
author  has  endeavored  to  point  out  in  tracing  the 
appearance  and  reappearance  of  the  elements  of 
personality  in  all  groups,  a  world  is  a  person. 

And  surely  no  other  institution  in  our  civil  fab- 
ric, not  even  the  composite  personality  of  the 
psychic  clinic  itself,  presents  the  elements  of  per- 
sonality in  such  clear  cut  fashion  as  does  the 
theater. 

For  instance,  in  the  author  and  producer  we 
have  the  originative  element,  hidden,  scarcely 
existent,  so  far  as  the  major  portion  of  the  or- 
ganism is  aware.  Yet  these  two  by  their  action 
upon  a  receptive  and  executive  group,  the  actors, 
give  rise,  in  the  enacted  play  to  a  series  of  pictures 
in  every  way  analogous  to  a  train  of  conscious 
thought  in  the  mind.  In  the  economy  of  the 
theater-person,  therefore,  we  may  regard  the 
stage  as  the  head,  the  actors  as  the  brain  cells,  and 
the  enacted  play  as  the  functioning  of  the  con- 
scious or  objective  faculties.  We  have  found, 
moreover,  that  these  conscious  faculties  are  a  syn- 

35 


36  PRINCIPLES  OF  DRAMA-THERAPY 

thetic  product,  arising  from  the  action  of  an  orig- 
inative element  upon  a  receptive  and  executive 
element — just  as  they  appear  to  be  in  the  case  of 
the  individual. 

However,  no  personality  is  complete  without  a 
subjective  fabric  upon  which  the  concepts  ema- 
nating from  the  originative  member  may  be  re- 
corded. And  in  the  economy  of  the  theater-per- 
son the  place  of  the  subjective  fabric  is  supplied 
by  that  portion  of  the  receptive  and  executive  ele- 
ment not  employed  upon  the  stage — in  other 
words,  by  the  audience.  But  it  will  be  remem- 
bered that  the  subjective  fabric  responds  always 
in  accordance  with  some  suggestion  conveyed  to 
it,  and  that  it  can  respond  in  no  other  way.  This, 
also,  is  the  law  of  the  audience,  whose  emotional 
states  are  determined  from  moment  to  moment 
by  suggestions  conveyed  to  it  over  the  footlights. 
Nor  does  the  matter  stop  there,  for  the  response 
of  the  audience  reacts  upon  the  actors,  just  as  the 
response  of  the  subjective  entity  reacts  upon  the 
conscious  faculties  of  the  individual,  and  im- 
proves or  depresses  their  functioning.  It  is,  more- 
over, the  quality  of  this  emotional  give  and  take 
between  the  originative  member  and  the  recep- 
tive member,  maintained  through  the  medium  of 
the  stage,  that  determines  the  tempo  of  life  in, 
and  consequently  the  duration  of,  any  particular 
theater-personality. 


THE  ORGANISM  OF  THE  THEATER  37 

Thus  it  is  that  a  theater  with  a  play  in  progress 
is  a  living  organism,  whose  body  like  that  of  Vol- 
vox  Globator}  is  composed  of  hundreds  of  living 
cells,  and  whose  life-processes  consist  of  the  inter- 
action taking  place  among  its  component  parts. 

It  is  curious,  in  view  of  the  volumes  that  have 
been  written  upon  the  subject  of  the  stage, 
that  we  have  been  so  slow  in  perceiving  the  patent 
parallel  between  the  individual  and  the  theater. 
It  is  curious,  also,  that  we  have  failed  to  identify 
the  condition  of  mind  obtaining  in  the  audience 
with  the  hypnotic  state,  which  is  the  normal  state 
of  the  psychic  member.  And  yet,  among  these 
writers  upon  the  drama,  there  must  have  been 
men  who  realized  that  the  first  step  in  the  pro- 
duction of  hypnosis  is  to  prohibit  for  a  time  any 
act  of  conscious  origination — in  other  words,  to 
fix  the  attention.  For  Braid,  among  others, 
writing  as  far  back  as  1845  or  6,  puts  the  matter 
plainly:  "It  is  always,"  he  says,  "a  process  of 
mono-ideism  (or  of  concentrated  attention)  that 
calls  forth  the  hypnotic  phenomena."  And  if 
this  condition  of  concentrated  attention  does  not 
obtain  in  a  theater,  especially  during  the  more 
dramatic  moments  of  a  play,  then  indeed  there 
is  no  such  thing  as  concentrated  attention.  It  is, 
moreover,  just  the  fact  that  an  audience  during 
a  performance  is  in  a  slight  hypnotic  condition 
that  accounts  for  the  standing  criticism  lodged 


38  PRINCIPLES  OF  DRAMA-THERAPY 

by  the  producer  against  the  public.  "An  audi- 
ence," he  says,  "will  not  think."  As  a  matter  of 
fact  in  that  condition  the  theater-goer  cannot 
think,  for  to  start  a  train  of  conscious  thought 
implies  an  act  of  origination,  and  this  is  prohib- 
ited so  long  as  demands  are  made  upon  the  atten- 
tion. The  spectator,  therefore,  like  the  hypno- 
tized subject,  is,  by  the  very  terms  of  his  condi- 
tion, incapable  of  thought:  all  he  can  do  is  to 
receive  and  respond  to  impressions. 

This  is  a  point  which  the  public  performers 
of  the  backward  Orient  never  overlook,  for  one 
and  all  seem  to  realize  that  to  fix  the  attention  of 
a  gathering  is  to  induce  an  hypnotic  state,  and 
many  of  them  are  able  to  fix  attention  to  such  a 
degree  that  hallucinations,  often  on  the  part  of  an 
entire  assembly,  are  sometimes  produced.  Thus 
it  is  that  with  these  swarthy-skinned  entertainers 
such  stage  effects  as  are  involved  in  the  rope 
trick,  the  basket  trick,  and  the  growing  mango 
tree  hecome  possible — and  without  such  crude  ac- 
cessories as  drop  and  footlight. 

But  the  point  that  should  prove  of  chief  in- 
terest to  us  of  the  practical  Occident  is  this :  if  a 
theater  full  of  people  presents  such  an  exact  ana- 
logue to  the  individual,  and  to  the  composite  per- 
sonality of  the  clinic,  it  should  be  subject  to  the 
same  laws  of  becoming.  In  other  words,  the 
author  and  producer,  through  the  medium  of  the 


THE  ORGANISM  OF  THE  THEATER  39 

actor,  should  be  able  to  induce  in  the  subjective 
member  of  the  theater-person  all  of  those  physi- 
cal readjustments  and  supernormal  states  which 
the  individual  is  able  to  induce  in  himself  by 
means  of  auto-suggestion,  or  which  the  operator 
is  able  to  induce  in  the  subject,  by  means  of  the 
spoken  word. 

And  a  little  consideration  will  show  that  the 
theater-person  is  subject  to  the  same  simple  law 
of  becoming.  For  if  the  play  convey  destructive, 
depressing  suggestion  to  its  subjective  member, 
the  audience  is  depressed  and  ill-at-ease.  The 
play  is  then  said  to  lack  popular  appeal,  and  it 
is  not  a  great  while  before  the  particular  theater- 
person  built  up  about  it  begins,  likewise,  to  show 
signs  of  depression — until  finally  it  goes  to  pieces 
with  the  withdrawal  of  the  play. 

If,  however,  a  play  convey  constructive  sug- 
gestion to  its  subjective  member,  stimulation  en- 
sues, and  the  audience  leaves  the  theater  with  a 
sense  of  exhilaration.  The  play  is  then  said  to 
possess  popular  appeal,  and,  all  things  being 
equal,  the  theater-person  built  up  about  it  enters 
upon  an  indefinite  period  of  healthy  existence. 

It  only  remains  then,  to  determine  wherein  the 
constructive  or  destructive  suggestion  conveyed 
by  a  play  lies  before  we  can  judge  with  some  de- 
gree of  certainty  its  chances  of  success.  And  a 
little  consideration  will  show  us  that  this  deter- 


40  PRINCIPLES  OF  DRAMA-THERAPY 

mining  quality  can  lie  nowhere  but  in  the  origina- 
tive member  of  the  theater-personality  itself. 
Therefore,  we  will  not  look  to  the  technique  of 
the  play ;  we  will  not  look  to  its  cleverness  of  line, 
its  theme,  or  its  dramatic  values,  but  we  will  look 
first,  last,  and  always  to  the  viewpoint  of  the 
author.  For  if  his  viewpoint  be  positive,  no  mat- 
ter with  what  disasters  he  may  deal,  he  will  pre- 
sent life  in  a  positive  aspect,  and  this  positive  view 
will  constitute  the  basic  concept  involved  in  his 
play.  If,  however,  his  viewpoint  be  negative — 
if  all  he  can  see  of  life  is  its  ugliness  and  its  short- 
comings— this,  also,  will  show  in  his  work,  and 
will  constitute  its  basic  concept.  And,  just  as  in 
the  case  of  the  composite  personality  of  the  clinic, 
it  is  the  basic  concept  impressed  upon  the  subjec- 
tive member  which  determines  the  nature  of  its 
becoming,  causing  either  psychic  stimulation  or 
psychic  recoil. 

Now  if  this,  the  nature  of  the  basic  concept,  be 
borne  in  mind,  all  other  things  being  equal,  it  will 
be  found  to  explain  every  success  or  failure  in  the 
theatrical  world.  It  will  explain  the  popularity 
of  the  show  that  has  nothing  to  recommend  it  but 
the  exposure  of  its  chorus;  for  that  view  of  life 
which  assumes  that  women  are  fair,  and  conse- 
quently to  be  desired,  though  for  the  sake  of  re- 
spectability we  may  condemn  it,  constitutes, 
nevertheless,  a  positive  premise. 


THE  ORGANISM  OF  THE  THEATER  41 

In  this  same  antithesis  of  a  positive  or  negative 
basic  concept  lies  the  secret  of  the  perennial  popu- 
larity of  comedy.  For  comedy,  dealing  with  love 
and  marriage,  treats  broadly  of  fulfilled  desire. 
And  the  assumption  that  the  desires  of  life  are 
good  and  capable  of  fulfillment  again  constitutes 
a  positive  premise. 

Allied  to  comedy,  and  even  more  satisfactory 
from  the  standpoint  of  the  box-office,  are  those 
plays  which  deal  with  the  regeneration  of  char- 
acter. For  in  such  cases  the  authors  have  assumed 
that  the  individual  possesses  within  himself  the 
power  to  overcome  all  defects  and  difficulties — a 
conception,  which,  when  it  becomes  operative  in 
the  minds  of  the  audience,  cannot  but  result  in 
stimulation.  These  are  the  plays  to  which  people 
return  night  after  night  for  strength  and  encour- 
agement. 

And  the  same  antithesis  explains,  also,  why 
truly  great  tragedy  stimulates  rather  than  de- 
presses. For,  although  tragedy  deals  with  dis- 
aster and  death,  the  basic  concept  involved  in  it 
is,  nevertheless,  powerfully  constructive.  In  fact, 
it  is  just  the  presence  of  this  constructive  basic 
concept  that  distinguishes  great  tragedy  from 
near-tragedy,  which  always  depresses  its  audi- 
ence, and  from  melodrama,  which  frequently 
does.  For  great  tragedy  assumes  the  existence 
of  a  universal  something,  which  manifests  as  im- 


42  PRINCIPLES  OF  DRAMA-THERAPY 

mutable  moral  law.  And,  as  we  have  seen  from 
our  consideration  of  the  phenomenon  of  healing 
and  of  supernormal  states,  to  assume  the  exist- 
ence, in  any  of  its  aspects,  of  that  which  is  uni- 
versal, is  to  convey  to  the  subjective  member  sug- 
gestion of  the  most  powerfully  constructive  type. 
Hence  the  sense  of  great  calm  which  tragedy  cre- 
ates in  the  mind  of  the  spectator ;  hence,  also,  the 
reason  why  it  holds  the  boards  from  century  to 
century. 

Finally,  this  question  of  a  positive  or  negative 
basic  concept  explains  why  the  public  cannot  tol- 
erate the  plays  of  certain  gloomy,  destructive 
northern  writers.  These  plays  are  for  the  most 
part  of  magnificent  workmanship,  and  are 
breathlessly  interesting  from  the  first  to  the  final 
curtain.  As  a  rule,  however,  they  present  life 
in  a  negative  aspect ;  and  as  for  the  average  the- 
ater-goer, he  prefers  a  very  bad  play  which  avoids 
this  fundamental  error  to  a  very  excellent  one 
which  does  not.  And  his  reasons  are  psychologi- 
cally sound:  for  the  first,  bad  as  it  may  be,  con- 
tributes somewhat  to  his  happiness :  in  the  case  of 
the  second,  however,  the  better  and  more  convinc- 
ing it  is,  the  more  unhappy  and  depressed  the 
spectator  becomes. 

Thus,  obviously,  Shakespeare  was  wrong  when 
he  said,  "The  play's  the  thing."  On  the  contrary 
the  play  is  not  the  thing:  it  is  the  basic  concept 


THE  ORGANISM   OF  THE  THEATER  43 

involved  in  the  play  that  is  the  main  thing, 
and  it  is  only  by  grasping  this  fact  that  the  great- 
ness and  success  of  the  past  can  be  made  the  start- 
ing-point for  the  greatness  and  success  of  the 
present. 

Since,  then,  the  psychic  stimulation  or  depres- 
sion produced  by  a  play  lies  primarily  in  the  na- 
ture of  its  basic  concept,  may  we  not  postulate  a 
type  of  play  that  will  create  in  the  minds  of  the 
audience  the  maximum  amount  of  stimulation? 
Certainly  we  may,  and  the  method  of  doing  so  is 
perfectly  logical.  Now,  from  our  consideration 
of  personality,  we  have  found  that  the  greatest 
bodily  readjustments  and  the  highest  mental 
powers  appear  as  the  positive  concept,  which  gives 
rise  to  them,  more  and  more  nearly  approaches  a 
complete  generalization — in  other  words,  a  con- 
ception of  the  Universal.  Why,  then,  should  not 
the  dramatic  author  take  as  the  basic  concept  of 
his  play  the  immanence  and  actuality  of  the  Uni- 
versal, and  view  and  present  life  as  set  against  a 
background  of  Being? 

Now  the  critical  reader  will  remark  that  only 
a  paragraph  or  so  above  the  statement  was  made 
that  tragedy  fulfilled  this  condition.  This  is  very 
true,  and,  it  must  also  be  observed,  tragedy  in- 
duces psychic  stimulation — the  greatest  amount 
that  has  yet  been  obtained  in  the  theater.  But 
even  so,  this  stimulation  falls  far  short  of  that 


44  PRINCIPLES  OF  DRAMA-THERAPY 

which  is  induced  in  the  individual,  and  in  the  com- 
posite personality  of  the  clinic,  as  the  basic  con- 
cept approaches  universality.  And  a  careful  con- 
sideration of  the  method  of  tragedy  will  show  us 
why. 

Tragedy  assumes  the  existence  of  the  Univer- 
sal in  the  aspect  of  moral  law.  It  then  suggests 
its  immanence  and  actuality  by  pitting  against  it 
a  disobedient  mortal.  The  mortal  is,  of  course, 
overwhelmed ;  but  since  the  emphasis  of  the  play 
is  put,  not  upon  his  suffering,  but  upon  the  law, 
opposition  to  which  causes  his  suffering,  this  serves 
to  indicate  all  the  more  vividly  the  existence  of 
the  Universal.  Now  it  will  be  seen  at  once  that 
as  long  as  this  method  of  presentation  is  followed 
the  active  element  in  the  play  is,  and  must  con- 
tinue to  be,  the  disobedient  mortal — a  circum- 
stance which,  ipso  facto,  reduces  the  Universal  to 
a  passive  role.  Its  part,  therefore,  becomes  mere- 
ly the  part  of  permanence  and  of  immutability, 
and,  it  should  be  noted,  a  corresponding  sense  of 
permanence  and  calm  is  induced  in  the  spectator 
— the  intenseness  of  the  phenomenon  depending 
directly  upon  the  vividness  with  which  these  quali- 
ties have  been  suggested. 

And,  although  we  may  turn  the  pages  of  dra- 
matic literature  in  vain  in  search  of  a  play  which 
reverses  these  conditions,  in  real  life  instances  are 
not  wanting  in  which  a  conception  of  the  Univer- 


THE  ORGANISM  OF  THE  THEATEK  45 

sal  as  an  intensely  active  agent  has  been  convey- 
ed to  the  mass  mind.  Whenever  this  has  occurred 
the  most  astonishing  things  have  happened,  in- 
cluding terrific  emotional  upheavals,  supernormal 
mental  states,  and  phenomena  of  cure. 

One  of  the  most  clearly  cut  cases  of  this  kind 
occurred  in  eighteenth  century  France :  for  Fred- 
erick Anton  Mesmer  fulfilled  just  the  conditions 
described,  and  fulfilled  them  in  the  following 
manner.  He  postulated  the  existence  of  a  force 
called  animal  magnetism,  which  bore  an  active, 
beneficent  relation  to  individual  life.  According 
to  his  thesis  it  was  universal,  being  occluded  in 
all  matter,  and  through  its  agency  relief  from  all 
manner  of  physical  depression  might  be  found. 
How  matters  went  in  Mesmer's  clinic,  once  this 
universalized,  positive  basic  concept  became  oper- 
ative in  the  minds  of  his  patients,  is  described  by 
I.  P.  Broberg  in  his  lectures,  Animal  Magnetism 
and  Mysticism  of  the  Eighteenth  Century,  from 
which  the  following  is  taken. 

"Mesmer's  parlors  at  the  hotel  in  the  Place 
Vendome  soon  became  the  resort  of  the  Paris 
fashionable  world.  In  the  so-called  experiment- 
ing room  there  stood  in  the  middle  of  the  floor  a 
round  tub,  a  baquet,  with  a  diameter  of  about  five 
feet  and  provided  with  a  lid.  On  the  bottom  of 
it  bottles  were  so  placed  that  some  had  their  necks 
converging  towards  the  center,  while  others  di- 


46  PRINCIPLES  OF  DRAMA-THERAPY 

verged  outwards.  The  tub  was  filled  with  water 
so  that  the  bottles  were  covered;  through  the 
lid,  which  was  provided  with  several  holes,  bent 
iron  bars  protruded.  The  walls  of  the  room  were 
covered  with  mirrors,  by  the  reflection  of  which 
the  magnetism  was  increased,  according  to  the 
doctrine  of  Mesmer.  The  patients  were  placed 
in  a  circle  around  the  tub,  or  loaquet,  so  close  that 
they  were  in  contact  with  each  other's  knees. 
Each  one  held  in  his  hand  one  of  the  iron  bars 
that  protruded  from  the  baquet.  Generally  there 
was  placed  a  second  row  of  patients  behind  the 
first — and  often  there  were  several  rows — who 
formed  closed  chains  by  holding  each  other's 
hands,  and  who  were  in  contact  with  the  tub  by 
means  of  long,  magnetized  cords.  Besides,  all 
the  patients  were  mutually  connected  by  a  cord 
twisted  around  each  one's  waist.  .  .  . 

"A  mystic  twilight  prevailed  in  the  room.  The 
ear  was  charmed  by  sweet  melodies  played  on 
harp  and  piano  and  during  the  pauses  a  harmo- 
nium sounded  its  soft,  vibrating  tones — an  instru- 
ment that  Mesmer  played  with  a  master  hand. 
Men  and  women  were  now  sitting  beside  each 
other,  holding  the  mystic  bars  from  the  tub  be- 
sides each  other's  hands;  first  one,  then  another, 
began  to  experience  strange  sensations  and 
twitchings  which  were  soon  imparted  to  all  of 
them.  Then  Mesmer  solemnly  entered,  dressed 


THE  ORGANISM  OF  THE  THEATER  47 

in  a  violet  robe  of  embroidered  silk,  holding  in 
his  hand  an  iron  staff.  With  majestic  dignity  he 
walked  around  and  stroked  the  patients.  Within  a 
short  time  the  healing  crises  appeared.  The  pa- 
tients jumped  up,  wept,  laughed,  embraced  each 
other,  etc.  'Those  who  have  not  actually  wit- 
nessed the  scenes  in  Mesmer's  parlors,'  writes  a 
contemporary,  'can  hardly  form  any  idea  of  them. 
On  the  other  hand  if  we  witness  them  we  can  only 
be  astonished,  partly  at  the  complete  tranquillity 
and  repose  displayed  by  some,  partly  also  at  the 
violent  excitement  shown  by  others.  .  .  . ' " 


CHAPTER  VII 

THE  ULTRA-COMEDY 

If  a  therapeutic  drama  be  possible  at  all,  it 
must,  as  we  have  seen,  assume  as  its  basic  concept 
the  immanence  and  actuality  of  the  Universal  in 
some  active,  beneficent  aspect.  If  this  be  as- 
sumed, and  if  the  concept  be  driven  home  but  half 
so  successfully  as  Mesmer  succeeded  in  driving 
it,  it  is  safe  to  say  that  before  the  performance  is 
over  the  suggestion  will  have  become  operative 
in  the  subjective  mass-mind  beyond  the  footlights. 
Should  this  occur,  phenomena  corresponding  to 
the  aspect  of  the  Universal  that  had  been  suggest- 
ed will  begin  to  appear. 

Now  in  the  case  of  Mesmer's  ceremonial  it  re- 
quired but  a  comparatively  short  time  for  the 
basic  concept  to  become  operative — a  circum- 
stance which  indicates  that  his  method  of  convey- 
ing it  was  both  powerful  and  efficacious.  And  a 
careful  consideration  of  the  account  given  in  the 
preceding  chapter  will  show  that  the  merit  of  his 
method  lay  in  its  absolute  singleness  of  purpose. 
For  Mesmer  had  advertised  abroad  his  theory  of 
animal  magnetism,  and  when  his  patients  assem- 
bled at  his  hotel  it  was  for  the  sole  purpose  of  be- 
ing acted  upon  by  this  mysterious,  beneficial 
force.  Upon  their  arrival  they  found  themselves 
in  an  environment  every  detail  of  which  was  cal- 

48 


THE  ULTRA-COMEDY  49 

culated  to  keep  the  idea  of  its  existence  always 
in  the  foreground  of  thought.  There  was  no 
straying  from  the  point.  Everywhere — in  the 
mirrors  upon  the  walls,  in  the  furnishings  of  the 
room,  in  its  inexplicable  but  harmless  apparatus, 
and  in  the  attire  and  bearing  of  the  therapeutist 
himself — they  were  confronted  with  the  sugges- 
tion of  its  immanence,  a  suggestion  that  was  reit- 
erated at  every  moment  and  at  every  turn. 

Profiting  by  Mesmer's  example,  therefore,  the 
author  of  a  therapeutic  play  would  certainly  seek 
to  drive  his  basic  concept  home  by  means  of  reiter- 
ative suggestion,  and  it  would  be  this  considera- 
tion, doubtless,  which  would  determine  the  struc- 
ture of  his  entire  play. 

However,  before  an  idea  can  be  suggested  by 
means  of  the  spoken  word  it  must  be  phrased. 
The  author  would,  then,  seek  in  some  way  to 
phrase  his  basic  concept.  The  result  of  his  ef- 
fort would  be,  doubtless,  some  line  of  connota- 
tive  value.  This  he  would  introduce  into  his  open- 
ing scene  where  its  presence  would  be  accepted 
as  a  vagary  of  characterization,  or  as  a  mere  ac- 
cident of  writing.  But  thereafter  he  would  never 
allow  it  to  be  lost  sight  of.  It  would  recur  and 
recur,  each  time  with  added  significance  and  with 
broader  meaning:  it  should  stand  to  the  play  as 
the  theme  to  the  music.  By  the  intelligent  and 
artistic  employment  of  such  a  device  the  imma- 


50  PRINCIPLES  OF  DRAMA-THERAPY 

nence  and  actuality  of  the  Universal  could  be  in- 
sisted upon  and  insisted  upon,  until  an  audience 
were  all  but  wild  with  suspense  and  anxiety. 

So  far  as  the  present  writer  is  aware  there  is 
only  one  instance  in  dramatic  literature  where 
reiterative  suggestion,  as  embodied  in  such  a  re- 
curring phrase,  is  used  for  the  purpose  of  creat- 
ing predetermined  states  in  the  mass  mind:  and 
even  here  the  device  is  not  applied  directly  to  the 
minds  of  the  audience,  but  only  to  the  minds  of 
a  stage  mob.  The  incident  occurs,  of  course,  in 
Julius  Caesar,  in  which  Marc  Antony,  by  the 
repeated  use  of  a  single  ironical  expression,  is  rep- 
resented as  sowing  the  seeds  of  sedition  and  civil 
strife  among  the  Roman  people. 

But  if  such  a  recurrent  theme  is  to  be  employ- 
ed by  the  therapeutic  writer,  it  will  be  seen  at 
once  that  the  device  will,  in  a  measure,  determine 
the  nature  of  the  scenes  themselves.  For  if  it  is 
to  possess  a  broader  meaning  every  time  it  oc- 
curs, the  intervening  scenes  must  occupy  them- 
selves with  expanding  that  meaning.  We  cannot 
avoid  the  inference,  therefore,  that  every  scene 
in  a  therapeutic  play  will,  in  a  sense,  be  a  duplica- 
tion of  the  preceding  scene,  but  will,  nevertheless, 
represent  an  advance  upon  it. 

This  double  necessity  of  repetition  and  advance 
lands  us  in  a  structure  in  every  way  analogous 
to  the  musical  scale.  Upon  the  keyboard  each 


THE  ULTRA-COMEDY  51 

octave  begins  and  terminates  with  the  same  note. 
This  note,  therefore,  stands  to  the  scale  in  the 
same  relation  as  such  a  recurrent  theme  would 
stand  to  the  play;  while  the  intervening  notes,  con- 
stituting the  octaves,  would  correspond  to  the 
scenes:  and  each  octave,  while  it  is  an  exact  du- 
plication of  the  preceding  octave,  presents,  never- 
theless, an  advance  upon  it,  in  that  it  is  higher  in 
the  scale. 

A  little  consideration  will  show  that  the  struc- 
ture postulated  above  will  bear  an  important  and 
determining  relation  to  the  subject  matter  of  the 
play  itself ;  for  the  only  themes  that  can  be  pressed 
into  such  a  mold  are  themes  which  deal  with  de- 
velopment— that  is,  with  a  constant  transition 
from  one  state  to  another.  And,  since  the  drama 
deals  primarily  with  human  character,  we  cannot 
avoid  the  conclusion  that  the  therapeutic  play 
must  occupy  itself  with  a  constant  transition,  or 
with  a  becoming,  of  character. 

It  has  long  been  an  axiom  of  dramatic  criti- 
cism that  no  play  is  a  great  play  unless  it  present 
such  a  becoming  on  the  part  of  one  or  more  of  its 
roles.  And  when  we  view  the  theater  as  an  or- 
ganism in  which  new  states  of  consciousness  are 
being  continually  created  by  the  suggestive  ef- 
fect of  a  series  of  scenes,  the  reason  for  this  axiom 
becomes  apparent. 

Since,  then,  we  cannot  avoid  presenting  a  be- 


52  PRINCIPLES  OF  DRAMA-THERAPY 

coming  of  character,  the  next  step  is  to  determine 
in  what  direction  this  becoming  shall  be  viewed  as 
taking  place.  A  little  consideration,  however, 
will  show  that  if  it  be  presented  as  taking  place 
in  a  negative  direction,  depression  and  final  death 
will  result.  In  such  a  case  we  would  be  dealing 
with  tragedy,  and,  as  we  have  seen,  tragedy  in- 
volves presenting  the  Universal,  not  in  an  actively 
beneficent  role,  but  in  the  role  of  passive  immu- 
tability. The  only  alternative  then,  is  to  present 
becoming  in  its  positive  aspect.  To  do  this  is  to 
follow  the  general  method  of  comedy. 

Heretofore  comedy  has  occupied  itself  with 
these  positive  developments  of  character  only  in 
the  most  vague  and  nebulous  fashion ;  its  nearest 
approach  to  a  pure  method  of  treatment  occur- 
ring in  the  case  of  plays  of  regeneration.  And  the 
sole  purpose  of  this  chapter  is  to  deduce  the  pure 
structure  of  a  play  which  shall  follow  comedy's 
lead  in  presenting  positive  developments,  and 
which  shall,  also,  like  tragedy,  have  as  its  avowed 
purpose  the  suggestion  of  the  immanence  and  ac- 
tuality of  the  Universal.  Such  a  type  of  play,  for 
want  of  a  better  title,  we  may  call  the  ultra- 
comedy. 

Thus  far  in  our  consideration  of  ultra-comedy 
we  have  two  factors — the  Universal,  the  fact  of 
whose  immanence  and  actuality  is  to  be  suggest- 
ed, and  a  positively  developing  character.  And 


THE  ULTRA-COMEDY  .          53 

combining  these,  we  have  a  character  who  is  de- 
veloping into  a  consciousness  of  the  Universal. 
Upon  this  basis,  therefore,  each  scene  beginning 
with  the  suggestion  that  the  Universal  exists, 
would  proceed  to  show  the  character  as  becoming 
somewhat  conscious  of  its  existence.  In  the  next 
scene  he  would  become  more  conscious  of  it,  and 
so  on. 

Now,  in  connection  with  the  character's  grow- 
ing consciousness  of  the  immanence  and  actuality 
of  the  Universal,  there  are  two  points  to  be  con- 
sidered, both  of  which  are  of  extreme  importance. 
The  first  is  the  process  by  which  the  character  him- 
self shall  become  aware  of  Universal  presence, 
and  the  second  is  the  dramaturgical  method  by 
which  his  growing  awareness  may  be  most  vividly 
impressed  upon  the  audience.  Discussion  of  the 
first  point,  however,  will  have  to  be  postponed 
until  the  nature  of  the  environment  and  the  back- 
ground against  which  the  developing  role  is  set 
can  be  considered;  and  so,  asking  the  reader  to 
make  a  mental  note  of  it,  we  will  pass  at  once 
to  the  discussion  of  the  second. 

As  we  have  seen  from  our  consideration  of  per- 
sonality, whatever  is  present  in  the  conscious 
thought  of  the  individual,  or  whatever  is  voiced 
by  the  operator  in  the  case  of  the  composite  per- 
sonality of  the  psychic  clinic,  constitutes  a  basic 
concept  to  which  the  subjective  member  of  the 


54  PRINCIPLES  OF  DRAMA-THERAPY 

personality  responds,  to  the  upbuilding  or  de- 
pressing of  the  entire  organism.  Let  us  suppose, 
then,  that  the  developing  role,  in  a  manner  yet  to 
be  discussed,  is  beginning  to  arrive  at  the  conclu- 
sion that  the  Universal  is  immanent  and  actual 
in  such  and  such  an  aspect.  Now  it  will  be  re- 
membered that  the  Universal  has  been  defined  as 
a  complete  generalization  of  all  positive  attri- 
butes. Consequently,  the  recognition  by  the  in- 
dividual of  some  particular  attribute  would  be 
nothing  more  nor  less  than  his  acquisition  of  some 
positive  concept.  This  positive  concept,  then, 
would  become  impressed  upon  his  subjective 
fabric,  and  his  subjective  fabric  would  immediate- 
ly respond.  Thereafter,  the  author  would  pre- 
sent him  as  being  in  a  state  of  stimulation,  with 
definitely  increased  powers  of  the  kind  included 
in,  and  springing  logically  from,  the  positive 
basic  concept  acquired.  And  the  sudden  appear- 
ance of  this  state  of  stimulation,  and  of  these 
powers,  as  the  obvious  effect  proceeding  from  the 
character's  growing  recognition  of  the  Universal, 
would  vividly  suggest  to  the  audience  the  imma- 
nence and  actuality  of  the  latter  as  an  underlying, 
active  cause. 

From  these  considerations  it  follows  that  the 
suggestive  effect  of  a  play  of  this  type  will  lie, 
not  so  much  in  the  astonishing  nature  of  the  gifts 
acquired  by  the  developing  character,  as  in  the 


THE  ULTRA-COMEDY  55 

fact  of  their  appearance.  Consequently,  the  more 
frequently  the  author  can  represent  a  state  of 
stimulation  as  supervening,  and  the  more  definite, 
instantaneous  and  clear-cut  this  state  of  stimula- 
tion is,  the  better  and  more  powerful  the  play  will 
be.  Indeed,  not  the  degree  of  change,  but  the 
fact  of  change,  is  the  point  that  should  at  all  times 
claim  the  author's  chief  attention:  for  the  play 
which  he  is  writing  is  like  an  induction-coil,  in 
which  the  voltage  of  the  induced,  or  secondary, 
current  depends,  not  so  much  upon  the  strength 
of  the  primary  current,  as  upon  the  suddenness 
and  frequency  with  which  the  primary  current 
can  be  started  and  stopped.  This  rule  of  frequent 
and  sudden  transition  from  state  to  state  should 
be  applied,  moreover,  throughout  every  depart- 
ment of  the  play. 

Now  the  present  writer  is  well  aware  that  no 
finite  mind  may  ever  be  conceived  of  as  attaining 
a  complete  conception  of  the  attributes  of  the 
Universal,  for  these,  by  the  terms  of  our  defini- 
tion, are  infinite  in  number.  The  most  the  author 
can  be  expected  to  do  is  to  represent  his  character 
as  acquiring  a  large  number  of  positive  concepts 
—the  more  the  better.  And  fortunately  this  pro- 
gressive acquisition  of  positive  concepts  can,  like 
a  mathematical  progression,  be  accelerated  in  any 
ratio  that  the  author  may  desire.  It  is  this  cir- 
cumstance which  permits  a  therapeutic  play  to  be 


56 


PRINCIPLES  OF  DRAMA-THERAPY 


drawn  to  a  definite  climax.  Concerning  this  cli- 
max, and  its  accompanying  phenomena,  more  will 
be  said  later  on. 

Such,  as  the  author  conceives  it,  is  the  essential 
character  development  with  which  ultra-comedy 
must  deal,  if  the  play  is  to  build  up  in  the  minds 
of  the  audience  such  a  generalized  conception  of 
good  that  the  actual  elimination  of  depressed  con- 
ditions may  result.  Its  method  may  be  graph- 
ically represented  by  an  inverted  truncated 
pyramid,  thus: 


z. 

1 

1 

1 

] 

1 

1 

1 

I 

} 

\ 

1 

I. 

1 

1 

If/ 

J\ 

».                                    A£ 

A 

J 

L 

4                A 

*        * 

In  the  above  figure  we  have  a  series  of  13 
scenes.  On  this  scene-clef  the  base-line,  A  A, 
represents  the  character's  conscious  horizon  at  the 
opening  of  the  play.  The  vertical  lines,  Ab,  repre- 
sent the  amount  of  growth  taking  place  in  scene 
1.  At  the  points  To,  however,  the  character  begins 


THE  ULTRA-COMEDY  57 

a  second  scene,  which  results  in  the  acquisition  of 
a  positive  concept  at  c.  When  this  concept  be- 
comes operative,  growth  takes  place  along  the 
lines  cd,  bringing  the  character  up  to  the  level  of 
the  third  scene ;  and  so  on.  In  scene  13  the  great- 
est number  of  positive  concepts  and  the  widest 
outlook  are  attained. 

This  is  the  essential  structure:  it  is  the  frame- 
work of  the  therapeutic  play.  As  will  be  seen  it 
presupposes  only  the  successive  acquisition  of 
positive  concepts  and  their  resulting  states  of 
stimulation.  It  takes  into  account,  therefore, 
only  the  making  of  the  current  in  the  primary 
coil.  Its  breaking  will  be  considered  in  the  next 
chapter. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

THE  SUBJECTIVE  STRUCTURE 

In  the  preceding  chapter  it  was  pointed  out 
that  the  really  vital  element  in  a  therapeutic  play 
will  lie,  not  primarily  in  the  states  attained  by  the 
developing  role,  but  rather  in  the  transitions  to 
those  states.  And  while  it  is,  of  course,  conceiv- 
able than  an  author  might  present  such  a  progres- 
sion of  high,  and  yet  higher,  states  that  the  con- 
trast between  each  state  and  its  predecessor  would 
be  noticeable  to  the  audience,  it  is  also  true  that 
he  will,  at  times,  find  it  desirable  to  present  a  tem- 
porary retrogression  on  the  part  of  the  character. 

Now,  since  progression  results  when  a  positive 
basic  concept  becomes  operative  in  the  psychic 
fabric,  retrogression  will  begin  the  moment  that 
a  negative  basic  concept  lodges  and  becomes  oper- 
ative therein.  This  phenomenon  of  progression 
and  retrogression  is  well  illustrated  in  the  com- 
posite personality  of  the  clinic ;  for  here  the  oper- 
ator, by  conveying  to  a  somnambule  a  privative 
concept,  destroys  thereby  all  of  his  wonderful 
powers  of  sense  and  of  ideation,  and  converts 
him  instantly  into  a  frozen,  cataleptic  statue. 

Now,  in  the  case  of  the  developing  role  of  a 
therapeutic  drama,  if  the  character  has  attained 
maturity  before  the  opening  of  the  play,  and  if  he 
be  conceived  of,  moreover,  as  having  grown  up 

58 


THE  SUBJECTIVE  STRUCTURE 


59 


under  our  present  social  and  moral  regime,  it  is 
safe  to  say  that  there  is,  operating  within  his 
subjective  depths,  an  entire  structure  of  limiting 
and  depressing  basic  concepts,  or,  as  the  psycho- 
analysts call  it,  a  structure  of  "psychic  com- 
plexes." These,  it  is  true,  may  not  yet  have  ex- 
ternalized as  such  definite  subnormalities  as  dis- 
eased conditions.  In  the  majority  of  cases,  how- 
ever, the  structure  is  there. 

But,  since  the  general  trend  of  the  play  is  to- 
wards the  complete  generalization  of  positive  con- 
cepts, it  follows  that  all  negative  concepts  must 
ultimately  be  eliminated.  This  structure,  there- 
fore, may  be  graphically  represented  by  a  dis- 
appearing, or  right,  pyramid,  thus: 


In  this  figure,  as  formerly,  we  have  a  series  of 
13  scenes.    On  the  clef  the  line,  AA,  corresponds 


60  PRINCIPLES  OF  DBAMA-THERAPY 

to  the  character's  conscious  horizon  at  the  opening 
of  the  play.  At  &'  a  scene  begins  which  results 
hi  the  excision  of  a  negative  concept  at  c',and  dur- 
ing which  the  negative  structure  diminishes  along 
the  lines  b'c'.  This  process  is  repeated  until,  in  the 
final  scene,  the  negative  structure  vanishes  at  the 
point  B. 

Now,  from  our  consideration  of  psycho- 
therapy and  psycho-analysis,  we  have  seen  that 
advance  may  take  place  by  either  of  two  routes: 
a  positive  concept  may  be  added  to  the  psychic 
fabric — in  which  case  the  corresponding  negative 
concept  automatically  disappears — and  stimula- 
tion ensues ;  or  a  negative  concept  may  be  eradi- 
cated from  the  psychic  fabric — in  which  case  the 
corresponding  positive  concept  automatically  ap- 
pears— and  again  stimulation  ensues.  These  two 
methods  of  expanding  a  given  quantity  are 
clearly  exemplified  in  mathematics  by  the  Law 
of  Signs,  for  in  algebra  it  will  be  remembered 
that  a  positive  magnitude  may  be  indefinitely 
augmented,  either  by  adding  positive  magnitudes 
to  it,  or  by  subtracting  negative  magnitudes 
from  it. 

Thus  it  is  that  the  therapeutic  playwright  has  a 
choice  of  two  methods  of  advancing  his  develop- 
ing role.  He  may  either  add  positive  concepts  to 
his  conscious  thought,  or  he  may  bring  the  char- 
acter to  a  point  where  he  perceives  a  causal  re- 


THE  SUBJECTIVE  STRUCTURE 


61 


lation  between  some  negative  concept  and  a  de- 
pressed condition,  in  which  case  he  would  portray 
him  as  consciously  abandoning  the  idea. 

Let  us,  therefore,  for  purposes  of  discussion, 
make  an  ideal  combination  of  these  two  funda- 
mental processes,  representing  the  result  by  a 
combination  of  the  two  figures  already  employed, 
thus: 


In  this  figure  the  line,  AA3  represents  the  char- 
acter's outlook  at  the  opening  of  the  play.  At 
the  points  b  a  positive  scene  begins,  resulting  in 
the  acquisition  of  a  positive  concept  at  c.  During 
this  scene  the  corresponding  negative  concept 
automatically  disappears,  and  the  negative  struc- 
ture is  diminished  by  a  commensurate  amount. 
At  the  points  c  growth  takes  place,  bringing  the 
character  up  to  the  level  of  the  third  scene.  At 


62  PRINCIPLES  OF  DRAMA-THERAPY 

the  points  d,  however,  a  negative  concept  be- 
comes operative,  and  a  scene  begins  which  results 
in  the  excision  of  that  concept  at  ef.  During  this 
scene  the  corresponding  positive  concept  is  being 
automatically  acquired,  and  the  positive  struc- 
ture is  expanded  by  a  commensurate  amount. 
Thereafter,  these  processes  are  viewed  as  alter- 
nating with  one  another  until  the  final  scene-level 
is  reached. 

From  these  considerations  it  is  apparent  that 
the  author  of  a  therapeutic  play,  from  the  mo- 
ment that  his  character  begins  to  develop,  up  un- 
til the  time  when  the  final  elimination  of  the  nega- 
tive structure  is  accomplished,  will  be  dealing  in 
effect  with  a  case  of  dual  personality.  During 
those  scenes  in  which  positive  concepts  are  domi- 
nant, his  character  will  approximate  the  somnam- 
bule:  during  those,  however,  in  which  negative 
concepts  are  in  the  ascendant,  his  character  will 
approximate  the  cataleptic.  And,  as  has  been 
said,  the  more  sharply  these  two  personalities  can 
be  contrasted,  and  the  more  definitely  linked  their 
respective  states  of  stimulation  and  depression 
are  with  concepts  of  good  and  of  evil,  the  better 
and  more  powerful  the  play  will  be.  As  it  pro- 
gresses, however,  the  somnambule  will  gradually 
displace  the  cataleptic — a  circumstance  which 
has  a  most  important  bearing  upon  the  structure 
of  the  negative  scenes. 


THE  SUBJECTIVE  STRUCTURE 


63 


In  the  ideal  play  which  we  are  considering,  it 
will  be  seen  that  each  negative  scene  will  consist 
of  two  parts.  In  the  first  portion,  in  which  some 
negative  concept  is  becoming  operative,  the  char- 
acter will  be  tumbling  headlong  down  an  abyss 
of  depression — his  acquired  powers  disappearing 
all  the  while  like  vapor.  Since,  however,  the 
scene  is  to  terminate  with  the  excision  of  the  con- 
cept, during  the  second  portion  he  will  be  climb- 
ing out,  with  gradually  reappearing  powers,  un- 
til, at  the  climax  of  the  scene,  he  will  perceive 
what  it  is  that  has  caused  the  depression,  and  will 
dismiss  the  concept  from  consciousness. 

Let  us,  therefore,  take  a  section  of  our  two 
pyramids  upon  which  we  may  represent  this 
double  nature  of  the  negative  scene,  thus: 


In  the  accompanying  figure  the  base-line,  A  A, 
represents,  as  formerly,  the  character's  outlook 


64  PRINCIPLES  OF  DRAMA-THERAPY 

at  the  opening  of  the  play.  In  the  third  scene, 
at  d',  a  negative  concept  becomes  operative,  and 
immediately  all  growth  that  has  taken  place  be- 
tween A  and  d  begins  to  disappear,  and  the  char- 
acter approaches  the  base-level  as  far,  let  us  say, 
as  the  points  d".  Here  depression  reaches  its 
maximum ;  here  the  character  begins  endeavoring 
consciously  to  readjust,  and  to  regain  his  lost 
powers.  He  will  recall  the  fact  that  formerly 
he  possessed  them — that  formerly  he  was  not  de- 
pressed— and  these  memories  will  constitute  posi- 
tive concepts  which  will  gradually  become  opera- 
tive in  his  psychic  fabric,  and  will  build  him  back 
to  the  level  at  which  the  negative  concept  was 
acquired.  This  is  represented  by  the  points  e'  in 
the  diagram,  where  the  excision  of  the  concept  is 
viewed  as  taking  place.  Immediately  growth  oc- 
curs, bringing  the  character  up  to  the  points  f,  or 
to  the  level  of  the  fourth  scene ;  and  so  on. 

If  the  reader  cares  to  go  into  the  subject  he 
will  find  this  dual  nature  of  the  negative  scene 
admirably — beautifully — illustrated  in  many  of 
the  dream  records  kept  by  practicing  psycho- 
analysts. For  instance,  in  one  case,  a  popular  ac- 
count of  which  appeared  in  Good  Housekeeping 
Magazine  for  February,  1915,  the  patient  had 
dreamed  continuously  for  over  fourteen  years  of 
fighting.  Nearly  every  night  he  dreamed  that  he 
entered  the  ring;  not  once,  however,  during  all 


THE  SUBJECTIVE  STRUCTURE  65 

that  time,  had  he  failed  to  be  beaten  in  great  style. 
This  fourteen-year  period  corresponds  to  the 
down-leg  of  the  negative  scene,  the  depression 
reaching  its  maximum,  in  this  case,  with  the  ap- 
pearance of  hysterical  blindness.  With  the  loss 
of  vision,  however,  the  patient  determined  that 
something  must  be  done.  Consequently,  he  ap- 
plied, and  a  month  later  was  admitted,  to  a  New 
York  hospital,  where  he  was  placed  in  the  psycho- 
pathic ward.  This  period  corresponds  to  the  up- 
leg  of  the  negative  scene,  and  the  point  to  be  noted 
is  that  the  dreams  belonging  to  this  portion  of 
the  record  assume  a  totally  different  character. 
The  patient  continued  to  dream  of  fighting,  it  is 
true,  but  now  always  of  winning.  And  within  four 
days  from  the  time  he  entered  the  hospital,  he  had 
succeeded,  under  the  direction  of  the  psycho- 
analyst in  charge,  in  building  himself  up  to  a 
point  where  the  excision  of  the  concept  was  pos- 
sible, through  the  functioning  of  the  conscious 
faculties.  When  this  occurred  sight  was  regained 
immediately. 

Now,  for  the  practical  playwright,  there  are 
only  two  points  in  connection  with  these  negative 
scenes  that  are  of  real  importance.  The  first  is 
this :  when  the  character  is  upon  the  down-leg  of 
the  scene,  the  author  should  by  all  means  shift 
the  dramatic  emphasis  from  the  character  to  some 
other,  and  to  some  more  positive,  element  in  the 


66  PRINCIPLES  OF  DRAMA-THERAPY 

play.  For,  if  he  allow  the  attention  of  the  audi- 
ence to  remain  fixed  for  any  length  of  time  upon 
a  character  who  is  falling  down  an  abyss  of  de- 
pression, the  chances  are  that  the  same  negative 
concept  which  is  causing  his  fall  will  be  communi- 
cated to  the  mass  mind  beyond  the  footlights. 
Should  this  occur,  it  would  destroy  in  the  audience 
whatever  states  of  stimulation  the  author  might 
have  succeeded  in  building  up.  This  shift  of  em- 
phasis, of  course,  can  be  accomplished  simply  by 
shifting  the  thread  of  dramatic  action  over  to  a 
minor  role. 

The  second  point  to  be  noted  is  that  the  moment 
the  character  takes  a  decisive  stand,  and  begins  to 
fight  for  readjustment,  he  is  being  actuated  by  a 
positive,  not  by  a  negative,  premise.  The  second 
portion,  or  the  up-leg,  of  the  negative  scene, 
therefore,  although  still  negative  as  compared 
with  other  scenes  in  the  play,  is,  nevertheless,  posi- 
tive in  nature.  Consequently,  during  its  course 
the  attention  of  the  audience  may,  without  danger 
to  its  own  states  of  stimulation,  be  centered  again 
upon  the  developing  role.  Hereafter,  this  latter 
portion  of  all  scenes  of  depression  will  be  spoken 
of  as  the  positive  leg  of  the  negative  scene. 

Let  us  now  consider  a  sequence  of  scenes  which 
may  be  regarded  as  typical  of  a  therapeutic  play. 
In  the  opening  lines  a  train  of  thought  is,  in  some 
manner,  started  in  the  character's  mind — perhaps 


THE  SUBJECTIVE  STRUCTURE  67 

by  the  occurrence  of  the  play's  theme,  which 
catches  his  attention  and  upon  which  he  reasons 
inductively.  At  any  rate  the  train  of  thought  cul- 
minates in  the  acquisition  of  a  positive  concept, 
and  immediately  growth  takes  place.  This  sud- 
den growth  corresponds  to  the  making  of  the 
current  in  the  primary  coil,  and  during  its  prog- 
ress the  positive  member  of  the  temporarily  dual 
personality  is  dominant.  In  the  next  scene,  how- 
ever, a  negative  concept,  a  product  of  past  modes 
of  thought,  becomes  lodged  in  the  character's  con- 
sciousness. When  this  occurs  his  stimulation  and 
his  powers  begin  to  disappear,  and  as  soon  as  the 
process  is  well  under  way  the  emphasis  of  the 
play  shifts.  Some  other  character  takes  up  the 
thread  of  action,  and  retains  it  until  the  develop- 
ing role  has  struck  rock  bottom  and  begins  to  re- 
adjust. This  sudden  disappearance  of  growth 
corresponds  to  the  breaking  of  the  current  in  the 
primary  coil,  and  during  its  course  the  negative 
member  of  the  dual  personality  is  in  the  ascend- 
ant. In  the  later  half  of  the  scene,  however, 
the  character  begins  to  rebel  against  negative  con- 
ditions and  their  accompanying  depression — this 
rebellion  being  precipitated,  perhaps,  by  a  recur- 
rence of  the  play's  theme.  At  any  rate  when  it 
occurs  the  negative  scene  becomes  positive  in  na- 
ture, and  the  emphasis  is  shifted  back  to  the  de- 
veloping role.  This  portion  of  the  scene  is  full 


68  PRINCIPLES  OF  DRAMA-THERAPY 

of  internal  strife  and  turmoil — conditions  which 
will  be  faithfully  reproduced  upon  the  outside,  as 
we  shall  see  later  on.  However,  the  scene  culmi- 
nates in  the  character's  recognition  of  the  nega- 
tive concept  as  the  source  of  depression,  and  with 
its  excision  from  consciousness.  When  this  oc- 
curs, sudden  growth  takes  place.  With  the  ex- 
cision of  the  negative  concept,  however,  the  cor- 
responding positive  concept  has  automatically  ap- 
peared, and  this  provides  the  starting  point  for 
another  train  of  inductive  reasoning,  which  will 
result  in  the  acquisition  of  another  positive  con- 
cept, and  yet  further  growth. 

Such,  as  the  present  writer  conceives  it,  is  the 
generalized  statement  of  the  mental  processes 
which  the  author  of  a  therapeutic  drama  must 
concede  to  his  developing  role.  These  interior 
processes  bear  a  most  important  and  determining 
relation  to  the  remaining  elements  of  the  play,  as 
will  appear  from  a  consideration  of  the  next 
chapter. 


CHAPTER  IX 

THE  PLAY-PERSONALITY 

Returning  to  our  premise  for  a  moment,  it  will 
be  remembered  that  the  author's  sole  aim  in  writ- 
ing a  therapeutic  play  will  be  to  suggest  to  his 
audience  the  immanence  and  actuality  of  the  Uni- 
versal. It  will  be  remembered,  also,  that  the  Uni- 
versal has  been  defined  as  a  complete  generaliza- 
tion of  all  positive  attributes.  Let  us  examine 
this  proposition  carefully :  the  play  must  suggest 
that  which  is  a  complete  generalization. 

Now  it  is  obvious  that  no  author  can  ever  re- 
duce to  definite  statement  the  vast  sum  of  all 
possible  attributes,  for,  as  has  already  been 
pointed  out,  these  are  infinite  in  number.  The 
most  he  can  do  is  to  suggest  the  existence  of  such 
factors  as,  by  their  indefinite  interaction,  might 
logically  give  rise  to  any  conceivable  attribute. 
He  would  then  proceed  to  generalize  these  factors 
to  whatever  extent  his  skill  and  time  permitted, 
and  when  this  had  been  done  he  would  have  con- 
veyed as  adequate  a  conception  of  the  Universal 
as  could  be  hoped  for. 

But,  as  we  have  seen  from  the  earlier  chapters, 
organic  evolution  may  be  accounted  for  upon  the 
supposition  that  there  subsists  within  the  evolving 
entity,  an  element  which  originates,  a  receptive 
and  executive  element,  and  a  physical  instrument 

69 


70  PRINCIPLES  OF  DRAMA-THERAPY 

through  which  these  two  function.  Moreover, 
from  our  consideration  of  the  analysis  of  matter, 
page  107,  we  have  found  that  evolution  begins, 
not  in  the  organic,  but  in  the  inorganic  world. 

Thus  it  is  that  all  forms,  and  consequently  all 
attributes,  that  have  yet  appeared  in  the  natural 
order  may  be  accounted  for  by  postulating  of 
manifesting  Nature  the  same  inner,  three-fold 
constitution  that  appears  in  man.  And  if  we  ex- 
tend our  conception  to  the  Universal,  which  in- 
cludes both  manifested  and  unmanifested  Na- 
ture, we  are  able  to  explain  thereby  its  possession, 
real  or  potential,  of  any  attribute  of  which  it  is 
possible  to  conceive.  This,  of  course,  is  a  self-evi- 
dent proposition :  for  to  invest  the  Universal  with 
an  originative  element,  is  to  invest  it  with  the 
power  of  choice;  and  to  concede  it  an  executive 
element,  is  to  invest  it  with  the  power  to  create 
that  which  it  chooses  to  originate;  while  to  view 
it  as  embodying,  also,  a  universally  distributed 
material  element,  which  we  may  equate  with  the 
ether  of  physics,  is  to  supply  it  with  the  potter's 
clay  in  which  its  desires  may  be  wrought  out  in 
actual  form.  To  postulate  these  elements  of  the 
Universal,  however,  is  to  invest  it  with  all  of  the 
characteristics  of  personality. 

Therefore  it  is  that  the  author  of  a  therapeutic 
play,  who  would  side-step  the  difficulty  of  sum- 
ming up  the  attributes  of  the  Infinite,  may  seize 


THE  PLAY-PERSONALITY  71 

upon  the  elements  of  personality  and  generalize 
them  throughout  his  work. 

Let  us  examine  this  proposition  a  little  further : 
to  generalize  a  concept  is  to  abstract  the  idea  of 
the  quality  conceived  of,  from  its  association  with 
any  particular  thing. 

It  must  be  noted,  however,  that  these  three  ele- 
ments of  personality  have  already  been  conceded 
to  the  developing  role.  The  author's  first  step  in 
generalizing  them,  therefore,  would  be  to  abstract 
the  idea  of  them  from  association  with  that  par- 
ticular role,  and  to  concede  them,  not  only  to  the 
character,  but  to  the  environment  in  which  he  is 
set  as  well. 

When  this  is  done  the  author  will  view  the  en- 
tire cast  of  his  play  as  a  single  personality,  com- 
posed of  an  originative  element,  a  receptive  and 
executive  element,  and  a  physical  instrument — in 
this  case  the  collective  brain  and  body  of  the 
troupe — through  which  the  first  two  function. 
His  play,  therefore,  becomes  merely  the  state- 
ment of  the  interaction  occurring  among  the  com- 
ponent parts  of  this  play-personality.  And  this 
interaction,  it  will  be  remembered,  takes  place  al- 
ways according  to  one  definite  law — the  identical 
law  which  governs  the  individual,  and  the  com- 
posite personality  of  the  clinic,  and  which  has  al- 
ready been  summed  up  briefly  in  the  mathemati- 
cal ratio,  ac:y::y:z.  As  will  be  seen,  this  view  of 


72  PRINCIPLES  OF  DRAMA-THERAPY 

the  matter  reduces  all  questions  of  dramatic  tech- 
nique and  of  character  reaction  to  the  simplest 
possible  terms. 

Now  viewing  the  cast  as  a  single  personality, 
the  author's  first  task  would  be  to  determine  just 
where,  within  this  composite  organism,  the  origi- 
native element  lay.  However,  the  central  charac- 
ter himself  is  to  be  represented  as  developing — a 
process  which,  since  it  involves  the  acquisition  and 
excision  of  concepts,  implies  the  activity  of  an 
orginative  element  as  it  functions  through  his 
conscious  faculties.  We  cannot  avoid  the  infer- 
ence, therefore,  that  during  those  moments  in 
which  the  developing  role  is  actively  engaged  in 
acquiring  or  excising  a  concept — in  other  words, 
during  the  positive  scenes,  and  during  the  posi- 
tive leg  of  the  negative  scenes — the  originative 
member  of  the  play-personality  resides  in  the  de- 
veloping role  himself. 

The  author's  next  task  would  be  to  determine 
just  where,  within  the  proscenium  picture,  the 
second,  or  psychic  member  of  the  play-personal- 
ity lay.  And  obviously,  during  the  scenes  in 
which  the  principal  role  himself  plays  the  part  of 
the  originative  element,  the  role  of  the  psychic 
member  will  be  filled  by  the  remaining  portion 
of  the  cast,  which,  during  these  scenes,  will  re- 
spond to  the  character  according  to  the  one  law 
of  subjective  mind. 


THE  PLAY-PERSONALITY  73 

This,  the  subjective  relation  of  the  environ- 
ment to  the  developing  role,  is  a  matter  of  prime 
importance.  It  means  not  only  that  the  environ- 
ment will  accept,  and  carry  out  to  its  rigorously 
logical  result,  any  suggestion  conveyed  to  it  by 
the  originative  role,  but  also  that  it  will,  at  all 
times,  present  an  exact  correspondence  with  his 
inner,  mental  states. 

This  correspondence  between  the  character's 
conscious  thought  and  his  environment  holds 
good  even  during  the  earlier  portions  of  the  nega- 
tive scenes,  when  the  character  is  not  actively  en- 
gaged either  in  acquiring  or  in  eradicating  con- 
cepts, but  is  simply  responding  blindly  to  some 
negative  idea.  In  these  portions  of  the  negative 
scenes  the  conditions  mentioned  above  are  re- 
versed: the  environment  is  playing  the  part  of 
the  originative  element  in  the  play-personality, 
and  the  character,  the  role  of  the  subjective, 
psychic  member.  However,  by  virtue  of  the  mere 
fact  that  he  is  responding  to  a  negative  concept, 
the  character  has  consciously  abandoned  the  origi- 
native role,  and  has  himself  attributed  it  to 
the  environment.  This  arises  from  the  fact  that 
the  basic  idea  involved  in  every  negative  concept 
is  the  idea  of  an  opposing  something  possessing 
the  power  of  origination,  and  consequently  the 
power  to  do  harm.  And  when  this  basic  concept 
becomes  impressed  upon  the  subjective  member 


74  PRINCIPLES  OF  DRAMA-THERAPY 

of  the  play-personality,  this  subjective  member, 
accepting  the  idea  as  a  premise  and  working  it 
out  to  its  rigorously  logical  result,  does,  in  fact, 
assume,  relatively  to  the  character,  the  origi- 
native role.  This  is  a  condition  which  obtains  in 
Romeo  and  Juliet,  in  which  the  lovers,  starting 
with  a  set  of  negative  concepts,  play  the  part  of 
the  psychic  member  out  to  its  bitter  and  disastrous 
end,  without  once  assuming  the  originative  role 
themselves. 

Thus  it  is  that  at  all  times,  during  positive  and 
negative  scenes  alike,  an  exact  correspondence 
between  the  character's  mental  states  and  his  en- 
vironment must  be  maintained:  the  only  differ- 
ence is  that  during  the  positive  moments  the  orig- 
inative element  in  the  play-personality  resides 
in  the  developing  role,  while  during  the  negative 
moments  the  role  himself  has  conceived  of  it  as 
residing  in  his  environment. 

Now  upon  the  basis  of  an  exact  correspond- 
ence between  the  character's  mental  states  and  his 
environment,  the  people  by  whom  he  is  surround- 
ed will  correspond  to  basic  concepts,  or  "com- 
plexes," operative  in  his  own  mind;  while  their 
relations  to  him  and  to  one  another,  and  the  con- 
ditions to  which  they  give  rise,  will  represent  ac- 
curately his  states  of  consciousness.  The  author 
would,  therefore,  consider  what  particular  line 
of  development  he  wished  the  central  figure  to 


THE  PLAY-PERSONALITY  75 

pursue — what  particular  concepts  were  to  be 
added  or  excised  from  his  conscious  thought — and 
would  then  proceed  to  cast  the  minor  parts,  and  to 
plot  his  play,  in  accordance  with  these  considera- 
tions. And  here  it  may  be  observed  that  if  each 
character  in  the  play  be  viewed  as  embodying  one, 
clear-cut  concept,  the  role  itself  will  become  a 
clear-cut  role,  and  the  character  a  genuine  liter- 
ary creation. 

Now  at  the  opening  of  the  play  the  central  fig- 
ure will  be  surrounded  by  such  and  such  charac- 
ters, each  corresponding  to  a  concept  in  his  own 
mind.  These  at  first  will  not  be  clearly  differen- 
tiated into  groups.  The  moment  that  the  char- 
acter begins  to  develop,  however,  a  line  of  demar- 
cation will  appear  among  them,  and  thereafter 
the  author  will  be  dealing  with  two  factors  in 
the  environment — a  group  of  characters  corre- 
sponding to  the  positive  concepts  of  the  develop- 
ing role,  and  a  group  corresponding  to  his  struc- 
ture of  negative  concepts.  As  the  play  progresses 
the  first  group  will  be  augmented,  growing  all 
the  while  more  and  more  definitely  positive  in 
nature :  the  second  group,  however,  will  constant- 
ly diminish,  growing  more  and  more  definitely 
negative  in  nature,  until  finally  it  is  eliminated 
altogether. 

Thus,  upon  the  basis  of  a  strict  correspondence 
between  the  conscious  thought  of  the  central  fig- 


76  PRINCIPLES  OF  DRAMA-THERAPY 

ure  and  his  environment,  the  environment  may  be 
made  to  reproduce  upon  the  outside,  and  to  un- 
dergo, the  identical  development  that  is  taking 
place  within  the  mental  depths  of  the  character 
himself.  It  is  this  circumstance  above  all  others 
which  renders  a  therapeutic  drama  possible,  for 
it  permits  the  most  interior  processes  to  be  ob- 
jectified upon  the  boards.  It  gives  rise,  also,  to  a 
secondary  process  which  is  of  extreme  impor- 
tance, and  which  will  be  discussed  in  a  subsequent 
chapter. 

Now,  as  the  play  progresses,  it  is  apparent 
that  those  readjustments  between  positive  and 
negative  which  are  taking  place  in  the  character's 
mind,  will  find  their  counterpart  in  readjustments 
taking  place  between  the  positive  and  negative 
groups  in  his  environment.  And  since  the  posi- 
tive is  finally  to  dominate,  it  follows  that  the  posi- 
tive group  is  to  be  augmented  in  some  fashion  at 
the  expense  of  the  negative. 

How  this  is  to  be  accomplished  is,  of  course,  a 
matter  for  the  individual  artist  to  solve.  We  may 
observe,  however,  that  it  must  take  place  in  one 
of  three  general  ways.  A  character  may  be 
added  to  the  positive  group.  His  appearance 
would  then  correspond  to,  and  be  coincidental 
with,  the  acquisition  of  a  positive  concept  on  the 
part  of  the  developing  role:  his  presence  would 
then  give  rise  to  new  conditions  and  to  new  rela- 


THE   PLAY-PERSONALITY  77 

tions  in  the  environment,  which  would  accurately 
represent  the  states  of  consciousness  resulting 
from  the  acquisition  of  the  concept.  Or  a  char- 
acter may  be  subtracted  from  the  negative  group. 
In  this  case  his  disappearance  would  correspond 
to,  and  be  coincidental  with,  the  excision  of  a  neg- 
ative concept.  Upon  his  disappearance  the  con- 
ditions and  relations  to  which  his  presence  gave 
rise  would  automatically  vanish,  and  again  the 
environment  would  have  undergone  a  change. 
Or,  finally,  the  leading  role's  attitude  towards  a 
character,  and  towards  the  idea  for  which  he 
stands,  may  change.  In  this  event  the  character 
in  question  would  pass  from  the  negative  to  the 
positive  group — the  transfer  corresponding  both 
to  an  excision  and  an  acquisition  of  concepts— 
and  thereafter  the  character  would  be  presented 
in  an  entirely  new  light. 

Now,  just  as  in  the  case  of  the  varying  states 
of  the  developing  role  himself,  it  will  be  seen  that 
the  really  vital  element  in  a  process  of  this  kind 
will  lie,  not  so  much  in  the  intensity  of  the 
struggle  that  must  necessarily  take  place  between 
the  positive  and  negative  elements  in  the  environ- 
ment, as  it  will  in  the  fact  of  readjustment  be- 
tween them.  Consequently,  the  more  frequent, 
definite  and  clear-cut  these  readjustments  can  be 
made,  the  greater  suggestive  power  the  play  will 
possess.  As  it  progresses,  therefore,  we  cannot 


78  PRINCIPLES  OF  DRAMA-THERAPY 

avoid  the  inference  that  the  author  will  find  it  de- 
sirable— perhaps  even  necessary — to  accelerate 
these  environmental  readjustments,  just  as  he 
will  wish  to  accelerate  the  character's  oscillations 
between  states  of  relative  depression  and  stimu- 
lation. 

Here  a  difficulty  will  present  itself  to  any 
author  whose  technique  is  hampered  by  laws  of 
nineteenth  century  realism;  for,  if  he  attempt  to 
adhere  to  photographic  methods,  he  will  find  it 
impossible  to  accelerate  the  readjustments  be- 
tween positive  and  negative  in  the  environment 
in  the  same  ratio  at  which  they  can  be  accelerated 
in  the  developing  character  himself.  The  reason 
for  this  is  simple;  in  the  environment  he  is  deal- 
ing with  entities  functioning  under  the  apparent 
conditions  of  space  and  time ;  in  the  mind  of  the 
developing  role,  however,  he  is  dealing  with  men- 
tal images  which  are  not  so  conditioned.  And 
yet,  if  actual  results  are  to  be  obtained,  the  corre- 
spondence between  the  inside  and  the  outside  can 
by  no  means  be  sacrificed. 

Under  these  conditions,  there  will  be  an  inevit- 
able tendency  on  the  part  of  the  author  to  shift 
the  action  of  his  play  more  and  more  definitely 
over  into  the  psychic  realm,  where  the  primary 
conditions  of  time  and  space  do  not  obtain,  and 
where  the  figures  of  the  environment  may  be 
handled  with  the  maximum  amount  of  ease. 


THE   PL  AY- PERSONALITY  79 

Such  a  shift  of  action  into  the  psychic  realm  re- 
quires no  revision  of  the  play's  premise,  the  estab- 
lishment of  no  new  theatrical  convention,  nor,  in- 
deed, any  line  of  demarcation  between  the  psychic 
and  the  objective  worlds.  The  only  thing  that  is 
necessary  is  to  apprise  the  audience  of  f  the  fact 
that,  during  the  positive  scenes,  and  during  the 
positive  leg  of  the  negative  scenes,  when  both  the 
character  and  the  environment  are  in  states  of 
relative  stimulation,  discrepancies  in  time  and 
space  are  likely  to  occur.  Thereafter,  the  mo- 
ment that  a  state  of  stimulation  supervenes,  the 
spectator  will  expect  new  laws  to  apply.  When 
this  premise  has  once  been  planted  the  author 
may,  during  the  scenes  of  stimulation,  make  his 
characters  conform  more  and  more  definitely  to 
the  laws  governing  mental  images.  Their  ap- 
pearances and  disappearances  can  be  made  more 
and  more  nearly  spontaneous,  and  their  readjust- 
ments more  rapid.  The  moment  that  a  negative 
concept  becomes  dominant  in  the  mind  of  the 
leading  role,  however,  the  author  will  return  with- 
out comment  to  such  laws  of  realism  as  are  com- 
patible with  the  relative  negativity  of  the  scene. 
This  progressive  elimination  of  the  laws  of  time 
and  space  will  constitute  an  added  element  of 
terrific  suggestive  power. 

Let  us,  therefore,  consider  a  sequence  of  scenes 
which  may  be  regarded  as  typical  of  a  therapeu- 


80  PRINCIPLES  OF  DRAMA-THERAPY 

tic  drama,  at  a  point  where  this  elimination  of  the 
conditions  of  time  and  space  is  to  be  got  under 
way. 

The  character,  we  will  say,  at  the  close  of  a  cer- 
tain scene  has  acquired  a  positive  concept.  Im- 
mediately af  terwards  growth  takes  place,  and  the 
characters  of  his  environment  undergo  a  corre- 
sponding readjustment  in  their  relations  to  him, 
and  to  one  another.  In  the  next  scene,  however, 
the  character  expresses  a  certain  fear,  arising 
from  his  structure  of  negative  concepts.  The 
moment  that  this  occurs  he  has  conceded  the  origi- 
native role  in  the  play-personality  to  his  environ- 
ment, and  the  character  corresponding  to  the 
negative  concept  that  has  given  rise  to  the  fear 
conveys  to  him  some  negative  suggestion.  As 
this  becomes  dominant  the  character  begins  tum- 
bling down  an  abyss  of  depression,  and  the  em- 
phasis of  the  play  shifts  to  some  member  of  the 
positive  group,  who,  for  the  time  being,  takes  up 
the  thread  of  dramatic  action.  This  condition 
continues  until  the  character  begins  to  fight  for 
readjustment,  and  until  the  scene  becomes  posi- 
tive in  nature.  Finally  a  point  is  reached  where 
stimulation  is  of  the  same  degree  that  it  was  at 
the  moment  at  which  the  negative  concept  became 
operative,  and  where  the  excision  of  the  concept 
is  effected.  Immediately  thereafter  sudden 
growth  takes  place,  and  the  environment  under- 


THE  PLAY-PERSONALITY  81 

goes  a  corresponding  change  through  the  ex- 
cision, temporary  or  final,  of  the  corresponding 
character.  Here  a  second  positive  scene  begins, 
precipitated,  perhaps,  by  a  recurrence  of  the 
play's  theme,  and  throughout  its  course  progres- 
sive degrees  of  stimulation  occur.  It  is  here,  let 
us  say,  that  the  conditions  of  time  and  space  shall 
begin  to  be  eliminated. 

As  the  scene  progresses  the  characters  involved 
in  it  gradually — almost  imperceptibly — begin  to 
obey  the  laws  of  the  psychic  realm.  Their  en- 
trances and  exits  are  more  and  more  intimately 
related  to  the  spoken  thought  of  the  developing 
role,  and  their  readjustments  become  more  rapid. 
During  this  scene  the  time,  perhaps,  is  noted ;  and 
when  the  next  period  of  relative  depression  oc- 
curs it  will  be  observed  that,  although  the  scene 
has  been  of  appreciable  length,  it  has  occupied, 
according  to  the  stage  clock,  perhaps  only  the 
fraction  of  a  second.  During  the  next  period  of 
stimulation  the  characters  will  yet  more  nearly 
conform  to  the  laws  of  the  mental  world,  and 
when  this  is  done  the  discrepancies  in  time  and 
space  may  be  extended,  until  finally  a  character 
may  appear  who  is  subsequently  discovered  to 
have  been  many  miles  away  at  the  time — a  cir- 
cumstance which,  during  the  next  negative  scene, 
will  be  explained  by  the  fact  that  the  developing 
role  had  been  clairvoyant. 


82  PRINCIPLES  OF  DRAMA-THERAPY 

Now  the  explanation  of  such  phenomena,  like 
the  explanation  of  the  periods  of  stimulation  and 
depression  on  the  part  of  the  developing  charac- 
ter, and  of  the  readjustments  taking  place  in  his 
environment,  will  involve  a  process  which  stands 
to  the  therapeutic  play  in  the  same  relation  in 
which  the  secondary  winding  stands  to  the  induc- 
tion coil.  It  is  in  the  involutions  of  this  secondary 
process  that  the  extreme  voltages  will  be  devel- 
oped, as  will  appear  from  a  consideration  of  the 
next  chapter. 


CHAPTER  X 

THE  PERSONALITY  OF  THE  BACKGROUND 

If  the  reader  will  pardon  the  repetition  we  will 
again  revert  to  the  conditions  of  the  play :  a  thera- 
peutic drama  must  convey  to  the  audience  a 
conception  of  the  immanence  and  actuality  of  the 
Universal.  And  the  Universal,  as  redefined  in 
the  previous  chapter,  is  a  complete  generalization 
of  the  factors  of  personality. 

Again,  to  generalize  a  conception  is  to  abstract 
it  from  its  association  with  any  particular  thing. 

Now  the  author  of  a  therapeutic  play  has  al- 
ready abstracted  the  elements  of  personality  from 
the  developing  role,  and  has  generalized  them 
somewhat  by  attributing  them,  not  only  to  the 
role,  but  to  the  cast  as  a  whole  as  well.  These 
factors,  however,  may  be  generalized  yet  further, 
and  in  the  following  fashion :  the  developing  role 
himself  may  be  represented  as  recognizing  the 
elements  of  personality,  as  abstracting  them  from 
their  particular  associations,  and  as  generalizing 
them — thus  reproducing  upon  the  boards  the 
identical  process  which  the  author  has  followed 
in  the  composition  of  the  play  itself. 

Hereafter,  this,  the  character's  recognition  and 
generalization  of  the  elements  of  personality,  will 
be  spoken  of  as  the  secondary  process  of  generali- 
zation, while  the  process  which  has  taken  place  in 

83 


84  PEINCIPLES  OF  DRAMA-THEBAPY 

the  author's  mind,  and  which  has  determined  the 
structure  of  the  play,  will  be  referred  to  as  the 
primary  process  of  generalization. 

Now,  it  may  be  asked,  how  is  this  secondary 
process  of  generalization  to  be  conveyed  to  the 
minds  of  the  unthinking  audience?  The  answer 
is,  in  the  simplest  and  most  natural  manner 
imaginable;  for,  if  the  author  has  so  plotted  his 
play  that  his  character  shall  oscillate  perceptibly 
between  stimulation  and  depression — oscillations 
which  produce  their  exact  correspondence  in  the 
environment — he  can  scarcely  avoid  allowing  the 
character,  sooner  or  later,  to  become  conscious  of 
these  phenomena.  And  the  moment  that  he  be- 
comes conscious  of  them  the  character  will  begin 
to  work  upon  them  inductively;  for  it  is  charac- 
teristic of  the  human  mind  to  seek  a  cause  for  all 
observed  action.  As  the  play  progresses,  there- 
fore, and  the  character  perceives  that  time  after 
time  negative  concepts  cause  depression,  and  posi- 
tive concepts  stimulation,  he  will  gradually  arrive 
at  the  conclusion  that  in  his  truly  normal  state 
only  positive  concepts  have,  or  shall  have,  any 
place. 

These  inductive  processes,  started  in  the  first 
instance,  perhaps,  by  the  occurrence  of  the  play's 
theme,  and  kept  up  by  the  occurrence  of  alternat- 
ing phenomena  of  stimulation  and  depression, 
constitute  the  method  by  which  the  character  ac- 


THE  PERSONALITY  OF  THE  BACKGROUND      85 

quires  fresh  positive  concepts,  or  eradicates  old, 
negative  ones — to  the  precipitation,  as  we  have 
seen,  of  more  phenomena,  upon  which  he  again 
works  inductively. 

Now,  after  the  character  has  observed  that  his 
own  personality  responds  instantly  to  positive 
and  negative  concepts,  and  after  he  has  exercised 
for  a  while  his  powers  of  selection  to  permit  only 
positive  concepts  to  become  operative  in  his  mind, 
he  will  build  himself  up  to  a  point  where  he  is 
able  to  perceive  that  his  environment  responds  to 
him,  and  has  always  responded,  in  identically  the 
same  manner.  He  will  now  consciously  alter  his 
thought  to  attain  any  desired  end,  and  will  ob- 
serve that  his  environment  likewise  becomes  al- 
tered. However,  when  he  has  observed  that  the 
environment  obeys  the  law  of  personality,  there 
will  be  an  inevitable  tendency  upon  his  part  yet 
further  to  generalize  that  law — just  as  science, 
by  observing  its  repeated  operation,  has  at  last 
completely  generalized  the  law  of  gravitation. 
Again  he  will  abstract  the  qualities  of  personality 
from  their  particular  associations,  and  this  time 
will  attribute  them  directly  to  the  background, 
or  to  the  world  of  Nature,  whose  presence  upon 
the  stage  is  indicated  by  means  of  paint  and  can- 
vas. 

We  cannot  avoid  the  inference,  therefore,  that 
as  the  play  progresses  the  character  will  grad- 


86  PRINCIPLES  OF  DRAMA-THERAPY 

ually  acquire  the  idea  that  he  is  living  in  the  midst 
of  a  universal  something,  whose  distinguishing 
characteristic  is  its  response  to  conscious  thought. 
And  then,  since  a  strict  correspondence  is  at  all 
times  to  be  maintained  between  the  concepts  of 
the  developing  role  and  his  surroundings,  the 
author  will  endeavor  to  indicate,  by  every  resource 
of  art  and  stagecraft,  the  presence  in  the  world 
of  Nature  of  just  such  a  responsive  element.  This 
growing  responsiveness  will  manifest  as  phenom- 
ena occurring  in  proximity  to  the  character — 
phenomena  which  are  definitely  linked,  in  the  re- 
lation of  effect  to  cause,  with  his  mental  life  as  it 
is  expressed  in  his  actions  and  in  his  lines. 

Now  the  point  to  be  noted  is  that  responsive- 
ness is  the  very  earmark  of  personality,  and  when 
this  quality  has  been  built  up,  first  in  the  char- 
acter, then  in  his  environment,  and  finally  in  the 
world  of  Nature,  the  author  will  have  generalized 
the  factors  of  personality  as  far  as  the  mere  struc- 
ture of  his  play  will  permit. 

From  the  preceding  paragraphs  it  will  be  seen 
that  this  secondary  process  of  generalization  falls 
roughly  into  three  stages — a  circumstance  which, 
in  the  ideal  play  we  are  considering,  provides  us 
with  three  natural  act  divisions.  Upon  this  basis, 
therefore,  in  Act  I  the  character  will  be  occupied 
primarily  with  his  own  oscillations  between 
stimulation  and  depression.  His  environment  is 


THE  PERSONALITY  OF  THE  BACKGROUND      87 

all  the  while  undergoing  similar  changes,  but 
these  do  not  come  within  the  range  of  his  con- 
sciousness until,  by  the  repeated  selection  of  posi- 
tive and  the  repeated  elimination  of  negative  con- 
cepts, he  has  built  himself  up  toward  the  close  of 
the  act  to  a  point  where  he  is  able  to  perceive  these 
environmental  readjustments. 

In  Act  II  the  character  no  longer  looks  to  his 
periods  of  stimulation  and  depression,  although 
these  continue;  but  he  looks  to,  and  works  induc- 
tively upon,  these  more  general  phenomena  of  the 
environment — to  the  tremendous  acceleration  of 
his  own  and  of  the  play's  development.  Toward 
the  end  of  the  act,  however,  the  personality  of  the 
background  begins  to  appear,  and  before  its  close 
the  character  has  built  himself  up  to  a  point  where 
its  phenomena,  in  turn,  pass  within  the  range  of 
consciousness. 

In  Act  III  the  character's  attention  is  no 
longer  occupied  either  with  phenomena  of  stimu- 
lation and  depression,  or  with  environmental  re- 
adjustments: on  the  contrary,  it  centers  upon 
these  yet  more  general  phenomena  of  the  back- 
ground— to  the  yet  further  acceleration  of  his 
own  and  of  the  play's  development — until  the  cli- 
mactic scene  of  the  play  is  at  last  precipitated. 

Thus  it  is  that  the  author  may  lead  his  audience 
by  successive  steps  to  a  generalized  conception  of 
personality. 


88 


PRINCIPLES  OF  DRAMA-THERAPY 


From  these  considerations  it  is  apparent  that 
we  must  again  modify  our  figure  of  the  double 
pyramid,  in  order  to  take  into  account  this  natural 
act-structure,  as  well  as  the  increasingly  general- 
ized nature  of  the  concepts  acquired  and  eradicat- 
ed as  the  play  develops.  This  has  been  done  in 
the  accompanying  diagram. 


Here,  as  formerly,  we  have  a  sequence  of 
13  scenes,  the  act  divisions  falling  between 
scenes  5  and  6,  and  between  scenes  9  and  10.  The 
line,  A  A,  represents  the  character's  conscious 
horizon  at  the  opening  of  the  play,  and  the  line, 
ZZ,  his  outlook  at  the  close  of  Act  III.  The 
diminishing  pyramid,  ABA,  represents  the  struc- 
ture of  negative  concepts  which  precipitate  the 
negative  scenes  with  their  moments  of  relative 
depression,  and  which  keep  the  character  oscillat- 


THE  PERSONALITY  OF  THE  BACKGROUND      89 

ing  between  the  scene  level  and  the  line  AW. 
Now,  considering  for  the  moment  only  that  por- 
tion of  the  figure  which  lies  to  the  left  of  the  prin- 
cipal axis,  MM,  the  three  triangles,  Awx,  Axy 
and  Ayx,  represent  areas  of  generalization.  In 
the  first  belong  the  character's  concepts  which 
pertain  primarily  to  his  own  personality,  and 
which  are  derived  from  observing  his  own  periods 
of  stimulation  and  depression.  In  the  area  Axy, 
however,  belong  the  more  generalized  concepts 
pertaining  to  the  personality  of  the  environment, 
derived  from  observation  of  environmental 
changes.  In  the  area  Ayz  belong  the  yet  broader 
concepts  pertaining  to,  and  derived  from  obser- 
vation of,  the  growing  personality  of  the  back- 
ground. The  corresponding  negative  areas  fall 
in  the  same  order  to  the  right  of  the  secondary 
axis,  Aw. 

Now  it  will  be  remembered  that  ascent  may  be 
made  either  by  the  positive  or  the  negative  route, 
and  in  the  play  we  are  considering,  which  presents 
an  ideal  combination  of  these  two  methods,  this 
circumstance  breaks  the  line  of  advance  up  into 
sections — a  section  for  each  scene — whose  start- 
ing-points, marked  by  small  crosses,  lie  alternate- 
ly to  left  and  right  of  the  axis  Aw.  Beyond  these 
starting  points  the  amount  by  which  the  char- 
acter's positive  concepts  are  generalized,  or  the 
negative  structure  diminished,  in  any  given  scene, 


90  PRINCIPLES  OF  DRAMA-THERAPY 

is  measured  by  the  distance,  left  or  right,  gained 
during  that  scene.  The  vertical  lines,  on  the 
other  hand,  which  bring  the  character  up  to  the 
next  scene-level,  represent  the  amount  of  growth 
resulting  from  the  acquisition  or  excision  of  such 
concepts. 

Now,  in  the  accompanying  figure,  it  will  be 
observed  that  in  Act  I  the  starting-points  of  the 
scenes  are  viewed  as  oscillating  only  within  the 
area  Axaf — in  other  words,  the  character  is  ob- 
serving, and  working  inductively  upon,  only 
those  phenomena  which  pertain  to  his  own  per- 
sonality. In  Act  II,  however,  the  starting-points 
of  the  various  scenes  oscillate  more  widely,  with- 
in the  area  Ayy' — in  other  words,  although  per- 
sonal phenomena  continue,  the  character  is  occu- 
pied mainly  with  the  more  general  concepts  aris- 
ing from  observation  of  the  personality  of  the  en- 
vironment. But  while  the  act  is  in  progress  the 
personality  of  the  background  begins  to  appear, 
and  at  its  close  the  character  becomes  aware  of  its 
immanence.  And  in  Act  III  he  is  occupied  main- 
ly with  concepts  arising  from  the  phenomena  of 
the  background,  and  consequently,  the  starting- 
points  of  the  scenes  must  be  represented  as  oscil- 
lating within  the  still  more  extended  area  Azsf. 

In  the  right  hand  half  of  the  figure  the  author 
has  abandoned  the  convenient  but  arbitrary  meth- 
od of  representing  generalization  of  concepts  and 


THE  PERSONALITY  OF  THE  BACKGROUND      91 

character  growth  by  horizontal  and  vertical  lines 
respectively,  and  has  simply  plotted  the  result- 
ants of  these  two  processes.  The  result  is  two 
broken,  but  complementary,  curves  of  ascent,  one 
lying  in  the  negative  and  one  in  the  positive  area 
— in  this  case  to  the  left  and  right  of  the  second- 
ary axis. 

Now,  considering  the  right-hand  portion  of 
the  figure  for  a  moment,  it  will  be  observed  that 
in  scene  13  the  negative  structure  is  viewed  as 
vanishing.  When  this  occurs,  the  positive  con- 
cepts will  become  completely  generalized — a  con- 
dition which  obtains  hypothetically  at  the  level  Z. 
It  is  obvious,  therefore,  that  the  amount  of  gen- 
eralization attained  in  this  scene  must  be  infinite- 
ly great,  and  that,  adequately  to  represent  it,  the 
horizontal  component  of  the  positive  curve  must 
be  made  infinitely  long  before  the  character  can 
ascend  to  the  final  level.  Consequently,  our  posi- 
tive curve  turns  sharply  at  this  point,  and,  al- 
though it  will  constantly  approach  the  line  Z  as 
a  limit,  by  the  terms  of  the  case  it  can  intersect  it 
only  at  infinity.  We  may,  however,  conceive  of 
this  final  scene  as  bringing  the  curve  just  as  close 
to  the  line  Z  as  we  please.  This,  translated  into 
terms  of  character  expansion,  means  that  we  may 
present  the  central  figure  as  displaying  any  de- 
gree of  attainment  that  we  choose,  once  the  nega- 
tive structure  has  been  eliminated. 


92  PRINCIPLES  OF  DRAMA-THERAPY 

However,  before  discussing  this  climactic  scene 
of  the  play,  in  which  the  positive  curves  turn  sud- 
denly out  towards  infinity,  the  author  wishes  to 
call  attention  to  two  other  points,  viz:  the  effect 
of  this  process  of  generalization  upon  the  devel- 
oping role,  as  compared  with  the  other  characters 
of  the  play;  and  the  nature  of  the  phenomena 
which  it  precipitates  in  the  background. 

Now,  in  the  character  himself,  it  is  obvious  that 
these  inductive  processes  by  which  he  acquires  and 
generalizes  concepts,  will  give  rise,  as  it  were,  to 
an  inner  margin  of  personality  which  finds  its 
correspondence,  not  in  any  particular  person  or 
thing  in  the  environment,  but  rather  in  the  com- 
pletely generalized  personality  that  appears  in 
the  world  of  Nature  as  the  play  progresses.  This 
margin  of  personality  will  increase  in  breadth  as 
the  generalizations  which  give  rise  to  it  become 
broader  and  broader.  In  each  succeeding  scene 
it  will  lift  the  character  more  and  more  definitely 
away  from  the  groundwork  of  the  play.  He  will 
thus  never  become  merged  in  either  the  positive 
or  the  negative  group,  but  will  move  against 
them,  a  figure  set,  as  it  were,  in  high  and  growing 
relief.  Now,  in  the  negative  scenes  in  which  the 
character  is  depressed  below  normal,  it  is  this 
margin  of  personality  which  keeps  before  him 
the  memory  of  less  depressed  conditions,  and 
which  provides  him  both  with  the  faith  that  read- 


THE  PERSONALITY  OF  THE  BACKGROUND       93 

justment  is  possible,  and  with  the  will  to  read- 
just. In  the  positive  scenes,  also,  it  is  this  margin 
of  personality  which  enables  him  to  stand  back, 
even  from  those  persons  who  correspond  to  his 
positive  concepts,  and  to  perceive  the  workings 
of  the  law  to  which  they  unconsciously  respond. 
Thus,  as  the  play  develops,  the  central  figure  will 
draw  further  and  further  ahead  of  both  the  posi- 
tive and  the  negative  characters,  who,  represent- 
ing particular  concepts,  may  not  be  depicted  as 
perceiving  and  as  generalizing  the  law. 

Now,  in  regard  to  the  phenomena  by  means  of 
which  the  author  will  suggest  the  immanence  of  a 
personality  in  the  background,  a  little  considera- 
tion will  show  that  these  may  be  of  any  kind  which 
the  imagination  of  the  artist  can  devise.  For, 
upon  the  supposition  that  the  Universal  embodies 
the  three  elements  of  personality,  and  upon  the 
supposition  that  the  Universal  includes  the  all, 
there  is  obviously  no  reason  why  the  originative 
element,  as  it  appears  in  the  individual,  should  be 
confined  in  its  action  upon  the  psychic  element  to 
the  limits  of  that  individual's  physical  personal- 
ity— nothing,  save  the  fact  that  the  individual 
himself  habitually  conceives  of  it  as  operating 
only  in  that  fashion.  When  this  limiting  basic 
concept  is  shattered,  however,  the  originative  ele- 
ment, as  embodied  in  the  individual,  is  set  free. 
It  may  then  start  whatever  trains  of  causation  in 


94  PRINCIPLES  OF  DRAMA-THERAPY 

the  universal  psychic  it  chooses,  and  whenever 
and  wherever  it  will.  This  is  what  happens,  ap- 
parently, in  the  psychic  clinic,  where  hallucina- 
tions conforming  to  tests  of  materiality  may  be 
projected  at  any  point  in  space. 

Now  it  should  be  observed  that  a  character 
who  is  consciously  generalizing  his  conception  of 
personality,  is  shattering  the  basic  concept  which 
limits  his  powers  of  origination  in  the  manner 
described  above.  As  this  process  continues,  there- 
fore, we  shall  expect  his  conscious  thought  to  be 
recorded  in  the  universal  psychic — in  other  words, 
upon  the  world  of  Nature — and  that  the  charac- 
ter of  the  phenomena  will  be  determined  by  noth- 
ing save  by  the  nature  of  the  concepts  which  call 
them  into  being.  Thus  it  is  that  the  author  of  a 
therapeutic  drama  may  give  his  imagination  free 
rein;  or,  if  he  will  but  turn  to  the  histories  of 
miracle  and  of  magic,  explaining  their  narratives 
upon  the  basis  of  a  three-fold  Universe,  he  will 
find  as  large  an  assortment  of  phenomena  as  he 
is  likely  to  require. 

However,  although  the  phenomena  presented 
may  include  all  things — from  the  local  modifica- 
tion of  natural  laws  to  the  association  and  disso- 
ciation of  matter — they  will  be  definitely  limited 
in  intensity  and  in  magnitude  by  the  amount  of 
development  portrayed  in  the  leading  role  up  to 
the  moment  of  their  occurrence.  For,  if  they  be 


THE  PERSONALITY  OF  THE  BACKGROUND      95 

not  adequately  motivated  in  terms  of  character, 
the  author  will  be  dealing  with  the  supernatural. 
The  audience  will  then  fail  to  follow,  and  half 
the  power  of  the  play  will  be  lost. 

But  let  us  return  to  the  climactic  scene,  in 
which  the  positive  curves  stretch  away  suddenly 
to  complete  generalization,  and  examine,  as  it 
were,  a  cross-section  of  the  play  at  this  point. 
For  three  acts,  perhaps,  a  reiterated  theme  has 
subtly  and  skilfully  insinuated  the  basic  idea  of 
the  play  into  the  ears  of  the  audience.  The  lead- 
ing role  has  eliminated  from  his  consciousness 
many  negative  concepts,  and  each  time  stimula- 
tion has  ensued,  until  the  spectator  now  feels  that 
in  the  truly  normal  order  no  negative  concepts, 
and  consequently  no  depression,  can  exist.  More- 
over, these  oscillations  from  positive  to  negative, 
and  back,  have  kept  the  idea  in  his  mind  of  an 
immanent  and  active  cause.  Next,  he  has  seen 
the  environment  come  within  the  pale  of  person- 
ality, and  has  watched  the  principal  role  grow  to 
a  place  where  he  can  manipulate  the  conditions 
of  his  life  at  will.  Finally,  he  has  seen  the  back- 
ground pass  under  the  same  law,  and  become  in- 
creasingly responsive  to  the  character's  conscious 
thought. 

Now  it  should  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  cli- 
mactic scene  of  such  a  play  may  be  approached 
either  by  the  positive  or  the  negative  route — in 


96  PRINCIPLES  OF  DRAMA-THERAPY 

other  words,  the  final  step  in  development  may 
involve  either  the  acquisition  of  the  last  positive, 
or  the  eradication  of  the  last  negative,  concept. 
If  the  first  is  the  case,  there  is  a  sense  of  growing 
calm:  if  the  second  method  has  been  followed, 
however,  there  will  be  a  sense  of  growing 
struggle.  But  in  either  case,  as  we  have  seen 
from  our  consideration  of  the  negative  scenes,  the 
character  will  be  acting  from  a  positive  premise. 
The  scene,  therefore,  even  though  negative  in 
nature,  becomes  positive,  and  consequently  deep- 
ly psychic,  toward  its  close.  Because  of  this, 
the  minor  characters  are  now  conforming  more 
and  more  nearly  to  the  laws  governing  mental 
images,  the  elimination  of  the  elements  of  time 
and  space  has  been  made  most  nearly  complete, 
and  the  powers  of  the  leading  role  himself  are  ex- 
panding with  the  utmost  rapidity.  All  the  while 
the  background  is  being  personalized  and  person- 
alized through  the  recurrence  of  phenomena,  until 
the  audience  is  momentarily  expecting  it  to  as- 
sume some  strange  new  aspect. 

Finally,  however,  if  the  positive  route  has  been 
followed,  the  generalization  of  positive  concepts 
is  most  nearly  complete.  All  particular  concepts, 
and  consequently  all  characters  corresponding  to 
them,  vanish,  and  a  moment  of  intense  quiet 
supervenes.  Or,  if  the  negative  route  has  been 
followed,  struggle  becomes  severer  and  severer 


THE  PERSONALITY  OF  THE  BACKGROUND      97 

until  finally  the  last  negative  concept  is  elimi- 
nated. When  this  occurs  the  character  corre- 
sponding to  it  disappears;  a  moment  later  all 
positive  concepts  become  generalized,  and  again  a 
moment  of  intense  quiet  supervenes. 

Now  what  phenomenon  shall  be  represented  as 
occurring  in  the  background  that  shall  be  as  posi- 
tive and  as  general  in  its  nature  as  the  last  men- 
tal act  which  calls  it  forth?  Obviously,  there  is 
only  one  adequate  correspondence — momentary, 
but  intense,  general  and  overpowering  light. 

Such  a  phenomenon  is,  of  course,  in  accord 
with  the  statements  of  those  who  have  most  nearly 
approximated  the  state  of  mind  contemplated; 
but  whether  it  be  in  accord  or  not,  its  suggestive 
effect  upon  an  audience,  especially  if  its  passing 
be  preceded  by  a  darkened  stage,  would  be  simply 
terrific. 

This  moment,  in  which  the  background  is  rep- 
resented as  flashing  light,  is  supposed,  of  course, 
to  mark  the  merging  of  the  individual  and  the 
Cosmic  consciousnesses.  It  is  the  "marriage  of 
Heaven  and  Earth"  looked  forward  to  and  de- 
scribed by  all  of  the  great  religions;  and  ade- 
quately to  dramatize  it  should  be  the  sole  aim  and 
purpose  of  the  therapeutic  playwright. 

His  play,  however,  need  not  stop  at  this  point ; 
nor  need  it  suffer  any  anti-climax  thereby.  On 
the  contrary,  after  a  recrudescence  of  negative 


98  PRINCIPLES  OF  DRAMA-THERAPY 

concepts,  it  might  work  again  and  again  to  the 
passing  of  the  light,  until  the  character  has  be- 
come steady,  and  is  no  longer  human  but  divine. 
The  dramatist  would  then  view  his  character 
as  perceiving  that  the  individual  originative  ele- 
ment can,  and  always  is,  initiating  trains  of  cau- 
sation in  the  universal  psychic — thus  weaving  the 
web  which  we  call  circumstance.  He  would 
view  him  as  perceiving,  also,  that  the  trains  of 
causation  started  and  maintained  in  the  individ- 
ual psychic  by  the  Universal  originative — the 
action  taking  place  subconsciously  in  the  ma- 
jority— is  that  which  gives  rise  to  the  continuous 
phenomenon  of  life.  He  will  thus  represent  him 
as  perceiving  that  the  individual  and  the  Uni- 
versal, are,  in  fact,  one;  and  that  he,  like  the  Cos- 
mos, is  a  self-maintaining,  self-evolving  unit.  At 
this  point  all  conceivable  phenomena  compatible 
with  cosmic  advance  might  be  associated  with  his 
personality,  until  at  last  he  might  be  represented 
as  passing  beyond  the  range  of  sense  perception. 


CHAPTER  XI 

DRAMATIC  SELECTION  AND  CONCLUSION 

In  the  foregoing  pages  the  author  has  endeav- 
ored to  deduce  a  method  by  which  the  laws  of 
suggestion,  upon  which  the  entire  fabric  of  the 
theater  depends,  may  be  turned  by  the  play- 
wright to  some  great,  constructive  purpose.  The 
discussion  has  of  necessity  been  purely  theoreti- 
cal in  nature.  However,  remembering  that  theo- 
retical work  is  the  basis  of  all  practical  achieve- 
ment, let  us  sum  up  the  conclusions  arrived  at  in 
as  brief  and  as  tangible  a  form  as  possible. 

1.  A  drama,  in  order  to  apply  constructive 
suggestion  in  blanket  fashion  to  large  gatherings 
of  individuals,  must  take  as  its  premise  the  most 
general  positive  concept  possible ;  for  the  broader 
the  premise,  the  greater  the  number  of  particular 
cases  of  depression  that  it  will  cover.  And,  as  we 
have  seen,  the  broadest  premise  that  it  is  possible 
to  assume  is  the  immanence  and  actuality  of  Uni- 
versal Being. 

2.  Remembering  Braid's  dictum,  that  hypno- 
sis is  always  the  result  of  a  process  of  mono-ide- 
ism,  or  the  concentration  of  the  entire  attention 
upon  one  object  or  idea,  a  therapeutic  drama 
must  adhere  most  rigidly  to  its  premise — a  pre- 
mise which  can  best  be  conveyed  by  depicting  the 
effect  of  Universal  Being  upon  the  individual. 

99 


100  PRINCIPLES  OF  DRAMA-THERAPY 

This  requirement  of  mono-ideism  lands  us  in  a 
structure  in  every  department  of  which  the  ele- 
ments both  of  repetition  and  of  advance  obtain. 

3.  In    the    developing    role,   sharply    defined 
states  of  stimulation  above  normal,  and  depres- 
sion below,  must  be  presented.      These  oscilla- 
tions must,  in  the  lines  of  the  play,  be  linked  di- 
rectly, and  in  the  relation  of  effect  to  cause,  with 
the  character's  growing  recognition  of  the  Uni- 
versal. 

4.  A  strict  correspondence  between  the  char- 
acter's conscious  thought  and  his  immediate  en- 
vironment must  be  maintained;  and  all  environ- 
mental changes  must  be  linked  directly,  and  in  the 
relation  of  effect  to  cause,  with  the  same  process 
of  growing  recognition. 

5.  As  this  process  of  recognition  continues, 
bringing  about  repeated  generalizations  of  posi- 
tive concepts,  a  growing  personality  must  be  in- 
dicated in  the  background,  until  the  very  atmos- 
phere of  the  theater  becomes  alive  with  an  un- 
seen, but  with  a  definitely  responsive,  presence. 

These  five  rules  may  be  condensed  yet  further ; 
for  if  an  author  assume  the  existence  of  person- 
ality with  respect  to  his  developing  role,  and, 
thereafter,  subject  this  personality  to  successive 
and  rapid  expansions  throughout  every  depart- 
ment of  his  work,  he  will  most  assuredly  approxi- 
mate therapeutic  results. 


DRAMATIC  SELECTION  AND  CONCLUSION      101 

Plays  which  conform  to  the  above  require- 
ments, and  which  courageously  present  the  super- 
normal developments  of  character  involved  in 
them,  will  constitute  a  radical  departure  from 
the  realistic  drama  of  the  last  century.  The  point 
to  be  noted,  however,  is  that  they  will  transcend 
the  laws  of  past  realism,  not  because  of  a  less 
faithful  portrayal  of  life,  but  because  of  a  wider 
outlook  on  the  part  of  the  author,  and  because 
of  a  more  intelligent  and  comprehensive  appli- 
cation of  the  law  of  dramatic  selection  than  has 
obtained  hitherto. 

The  law  of  dramatic  selection  is  easily  defined : 
it  is  that  necessity  which  requires  an  author  to 
pass  over  the  commonplace  and  the  trivial,  and  to 
select,  perhaps  from  an  entire  lifetime,  only  those 
few  pivotal  moments  in  character  development 
that  are  dramatically  interesting — only  those 
steps  by  which  the  story  is  actually  advanced — 
and  to  discard  all  else  as  valueless. 

But  if  the  vision  of  the  author  be  such  as  to 
render  the  steps  selected  typical,  not  only  of  the 
character  whose  story  he  is  presenting,  but  of  the 
audience  and  of  humanity  as  well,  his  work  is  said 
to  possess  the  quality  of  universality.  In  the  past, 
such  compositions  have  frequently  been  incor- 
porated into  the  sacred  writings  of  the  race  which 
produced  them ;  always  they  have  been  considered 
great,  and  have  survived  all  change  of  custom. 


102  PRINCIPLES  OF  DRAMA-THERAPY 

We  cannot  avoid  the  inference,  therefore,  that  the 
greatest  play  is  the  play  which,  like  the  embryo, 
most  completely  epitomizes  racial  experience  dur- 
ing the  course  of  its  development. 

Now,  looking  back  over  racial  progress,  from 
the  point  where  the  human  mind  first  emerges 
from  the  gloom  of  unrecorded  history,  to  its  pres- 
ent highly  sensitive  and  cultured  state,  the  one 
fact  that  stands  out  saliently  in  the  complex  of 
conquest  and  of  change  is  this:  no  advance  is 
perceptible  until  some  race,  or  some  portion  of  a 
race,  had  transcended  its  primal  beliefs  in  ani- 
mism, and  had  arrived  at  a  monotheistic  concep- 
tion of  the  Universe.  Psychologically  this  could 
not  have  been  otherwise :  for  animistic  beliefs  are 
beliefs  in  the  existence  of  overruling,  malignant 
powers;  and  it  was  not  until  these  negative  basic 
concepts  had  been  dissipated  that  the  racial  mind 
began  to  be  released  from  a  conditon  of  cataleptic 
recoil.  Then,  and  only  then,  was  this  mind  able 
to  express  itself  in  the  development  of  the  arts 
and  sciences.  It  is  these  circumstances  that  have 
given  rise  to  the  dictum  that  the  history  of  civil- 
ization is  nothing  more  nor  less  than  the  history 
of  the  development  and  spread  of  monotheism. 

Therefore  it  is,  also,  that  the  modern  play- 
wright who  would  most  completely  epitomize  ra- 
cial experience,  could  not  do  better  than  select 
for  purposes  of  dramatic  presentation,  those 


DRAMATIC  SELECTION  AND  CONCLUSION      103 

pivotal  moments  by  which  the  individual  mind 
passes  from  the  domination  of  negative  concepts 
—which  are  nothing  more  nor  less  than  the  dis- 
guised beliefs  of  animism — into  the  conception 
of  such  a  pantheistic-monotheism  as  is  contem- 
plated in  the  foregoing  pages.  And  the  fact  that 
therapy  will  follow  naturally  in  their  wake  is 
an  additional,  and  a  highly  practical,  reason  why 
such  transitions  should  be  presented.  Moreover, 
if  the  presentation  of  such  transitions  should  be- 
come the  general  aim  of  authorship,  it  would  give 
rise  to  a  drama  whose  effect  upon  the  social 
fabric  would  lie  beyond  the  range  of  wildest  con- 
jecture. 

Before  closing,  let  us  examine  the  conditions 
under  which  a  play  of  this  type  would  receive  its 
premier.  There  are  today  thousands  of  people 
in  the  United  States  who  accept  such  a  pan- 
theistic-monotheism as  the  very  corner-stone  of 
their  lives.  Hundreds  of  them,  through  an  es- 
pecially vivid  realization  of  the  immanence  and 
actuality  of  Deity,  have  experienced  some  inner 
readjustment  for  the  better,  and  it  is  safe  to  say 
that  one  or  more  of  these  would  witness  the  play. 
Now  if,  during  its  course,  author  and  actor  could 
bring  about  another  such  vivid  realization,  the 
chances  are  that  the  same  inner  readjustment 
would  take  place  again — to  the  elimination  of 
whatever  depressed  conditions  might  have  ob- 


104  PRINCIPLES  OF  DRAMA-THERAPY 

tained  at  the  time.  Suppose  this  should  happen, 
and  suppose  the  fact  should  become  known.  The 
news  would  not  only  attract  growing  numbers 
of  people,  but  would  constitute  a  basic  concept  in 
the  popular  mind,  creating  just  the  conditions 
which  would  render  further  readjustments  pos- 
sible. Once  the  thing  started  it  is  highly  probable 
that  it  would  assume  the  proportions  of  an  epi- 
demic— only  instead  of  an  epidemic  resulting  in 
deaths,  it  would  be  an  epidemic  resulting  in  cures. 
Such  waves  of  psychic  stimulation,  with  all  of 
their  accompanying  phenomena  of  physical  cure 
and  of  supernormal  states,  have  swept  western 
Europe  from  time  to  time.  In  the  past  their  prog- 
ress has  been  written  in  the  blood  and  ashes  of 
heretics,  and  of  those  accused  of  witchcraft.  The 
roster  of  such  martyrs  runs  into  the  thousands. 
Nor,  when  one  stops  to  consider  the  amazing  rap- 
idity with  which  these  psychic  contagions  have 
spread,  until  at  times  entire  provinces  had  been 
involved,  is  one  surprised  that  those  in  authority 
resorted  to  drastic  methods,  and  endeavored  to 
stamp  them  out  before  they  had  completely  revo- 
lutionized the  existing  order.  The  history  of  the 
Albigeois,  the  Montanists,  the  Paulicans,  the 
Huguenots,  and  of  many  other  of  the  so-called 
heretical  sects,  furnish  instances  of  such  phenom- 
ena on  the  part  of  the  mass  mind ;  and  the  author 
herewith  attaches  the  terse  and  suspicious  com- 


DRAMATIC  SELECTION  AND  CONCLUSION      105 

ment  of  a  neurologist  of  the  old  school  in  regard 
to  one  of  them : 

"Such  nervous  conditions,"  he  writes,  "show 
great  contagiousness.  In  the  beginning  of  the 
eighteenth  century  a  single  Clavinist  priest,  hail- 
ing from  the  village  of  Dauphine,  was  sufficient 
to  impart  a  prophetic  spirit  to  the  entire  popula- 
tion. By  a  magnetic  inspiration  of  this  spirit 
through  the  mouths  of  some  persons,  who  after- 
wards communicated  it  to  others,  no  less  than 
eight  or  ten  thousand  prophets  arose  in  Dauphine, 
Vivarais  and  the  Cevennes.  Men,  women,  chil- 
dren, old  men,  all  prophesied  the  future.  Chil- 
dren, three  years  old,  who  had  never  before 
spoken  anything  but  the  patois  of  the  province, 
now,  during  the  trance,  spoke  the  purest  French 

with  astonishing  ease "  (Hypnotism; 

Fredrik  Bjornstrom.) 

Now,  since  these  things  are  so,  and  since  tre- 
mendous power  lies  occluded  within  the  popular 
mind,  may  not  America,  with  her  genius  for 
things  practical,  harness  such  unseen  Niagaras — 
to  the  general  well-being  of  mankind  ?  In  doing 
so  she  would  have  revivified  a  theater  that  is  al- 
ready obsolescent,  and  would  have  created  a  truly 
American  drama,  based  upon  truly  American 
ideals. 

The  author,  however,  who  undertakes  Amer- 
ica's investiture,  will  not  accomplish  his  aim  by 


106  PRINCIPLES  OF  DRAMA-THERAPY 

looking  to  Europe,  or  to  the  past.  On  the  con- 
trary, since  there  is  in  every  human  being  a  me- 
dium which  works  to  its  result  by  means  of  the 
purest  sequences,  the  palm  will  go  to  him  who, 
starting  with  the  broadest  premise,  can  thereafter 
most  completely  emancipate  Cinderella  from  the 
smothering  toils  of  sterile  criticism — and  from 
slavery  to  her  pots  and  pans. 

One  word  more:  the  critic  and  the  student  of 
dramatic  literature  may  not  agree  with  the  author 
in  holding  that  a  therapeutic  drama  is  the  next 
logical  step  in  the  development  of  the  stage.  Be- 
fore dissenting,  however,  let  them  reflect  that  the 
drama  is  essentially  religious  in  nature:  that  no 
matter  in  how  many  different  lands  it  may  have 
found  independent  origin,  it  originated  always  in 
some  form  of  worship.  Let  them  reflect,  also, 
that,  whether  we  be  dealing  with  the  development 
of  biological  species  or  with  the  development  of 
institutions,  development  itself  appears  always 
to  go  in  cycles,  each  cycle  reproducing  the  start- 
ing-point of  the  previous  cycle,  but  always  at  a 
higher  level. 

THE  END. 


THE  ATOMIC,  CORPUSCULAR  AND  ELECTRONIC 
THEORIES  OF  MATTER 

The  human  mind  has  always  demanded  an  har- 
monius  universe — a  universe  which,  despite  out- 
ward appearances,  is  not  a  fortuitous  combination 
of  totally  unrelated  factors,  but  which  is,  in  itself, 
a  homogeneous  unit. 

This  primary  intuition  found  expression  dur- 
ing the  Middle  Ages  in  widely  accepted  theories 
concerning  the  transmutability  of  matter.  It 
gave  rise,  also,  to  endless  search  on  the  part  of 
alchemists  for  the  philosopher's  stone,  which  by  its 
touch  should  convert  the  baser  into  the  more 
precious  metals.  It  is  interesting,  in  the  light  of 
modern  discoveries,  to  note  that  until  as  late  as 
the  Napoleonic  wars  certain  individuals  claimed 
actually  to  have  accomplished  this  feat  of  trans- 
mutation. 

As  element  after  element  was  isolated  from  its 
compounds,  however,  and  as  alchemy  merged  into 
chemistry,  a  spirit  of  skepticism  grew  up  among 
the  searchers,  who  were  now  occupied  with  the 
practical  application  of  known  laws  rather  than 
with  physical  and  metaphysical  speculations.  The 
Atomic  Theory  of  matter  was  then  put  forward. 
It  was  arrived  at  in  the  following  fashion : 

It  was  observed  that  the  elements,  such  as 
hydrogen,  oxygen,  chlorine,  calcium,  iron,  gold, 

107 


108  PRINCIPLES  OF  DRAMA-THERAPY 

etc.,  combined  with  one  another  in  proportions 
that  remained  fixed.  For  instance,  two  parts  of 
hydrogen  combined  with  one  part  of  sulphur  and 
four  parts  of  oxygen  to  produce  sulphuric  acid; 
and  if  any  of  these  elements  were  present  in  ex- 
cess of  the  required  amounts,  just  that  excess  re- 
mained after  chemical  action  had  ceased. 

To  explain  this  phenomenon  of  constant  ratio 
it  became  necessary  to  postulate  a  certain  inner 
structure  for  each  of  the  elements.  Consequently, 
science  came  to  regard  them  as  made  up  of  min- 
ute particles  called  atoms.  When  this  view  was 
taken,  the  phenomenon  of  constant  ratio  in  such  a 
chemical  reaction  as  the  above,  could  be  explained 
by  saying  that  the  atom  of  sulphur  possessed  the 
power  of  combining  with  two  atoms  of  hydrogen, 
and  with  four  of  oxygen,  but  with  no  more.  The 
result  of  this  combination  of  atoms  was  then 
called  a  molecule  of  sulphuric  acid — the  molecule 
being  the  smallest  possible  particle  of  any  given 
compound,  just  as  the  atom  was  held  to  be  the 
smallest  possible  particle  of  any  given  element. 
The  structure  of  the  molecule  and  the  proportions 
in  which  its  constituent  atoms  were  combined, 
were  then  embodied  in  the  chemical  symbol  for 
sulphuric  acid,  H2SO^ 

Then,  in  1815,  the  English  chemist,  Prout, 
made  observations  which  seemed  to  indicate  an 
underlying  relation  between  the  atoms  of  the  va- 


THEORIES  OF  MATTER  109 

rious  elements  themselves,  and  which  tended,  con- 
sequently, to  revive  the  medieval  dream  of  trans- 
mutation. He  observed  that,  taking  the  weight 
of  the  atom  of  hydrogen,  the  lightest  known  sub- 
stance, as  1,  the  weights  of  the  atoms  of  many  of 
the  other  elements  worked  out  to  whole  numbers. 
Thus,  the  atom  of  oxygen  appeared  to  be  just  16, 
and  the  atom  of  mercury  just  200,  times  as  heavy 
as  the  atom  of  hydrogen.  It  seemed  reasonable 
to  Prout,  therefore,  that  oxygen  might  not  be 
oxygen,  nor  mercury,  mercury,  but  that  both 
might  be  hydrogen  condensed  16  and  200  times 
respectively. 

However,  it  was  soon  discovered  that  while  the 
atomic  weights  of  many  of  the  elements  worked 
out  to  whole  numbers,  many,  also,  worked  out  to 
fractional  numbers;  consequently,  Prout's  ex- 
planation had  to  be  abandoned. 

A  little  later,  however,  Dobereiner  discovered 
that  here  and  there  in  the  list  of  elements  little 
groups  could  be  picked  out,  each  member  of 
which  bore  strongly  similar  properties.  Thus, 
calcium,  strontium  and  barium,  all  greatly  alike, 
fell  into  one  group;  chlorine,  bromine  and  iodine 
formed  a  second;  and  sulphur,  selenium  and  tel- 
lurium, a  third.  These  elements,  it  was  observed, 
tended  to  form  the  same  compounds ;  wrhere  their 
combining  ratios  varied  they  varied  with  a  per- 
fect regularity. 


110  PRINCIPLES  OF  DRAMA-THERAPY 

Then,  in  1863,  Newlands  pointed  out  that  if 
the  elements  were  written  in  the  order  of  their 
atomic  weights,  beginning  with  hydrogen,  1,  and 
ending  with  uranium,  240,  those  elements  posses- 
sing strongly  similar  properties  fell,  like  the  oc- 
tave notes  in  music,  with  just  seven  elements  in 
between.  This  observation  contained  the  germ 
of  a  most  important  discovery — the  discovery  of 
what  is  known  as  the  Periodic  Law.  It  was  ar- 
rived at  independently,  and  almost  simultane- 
ously, by  Mendeleeff  in  Russia,  and  Meyer  in 
Germany. 

These  two  scientists  discovered  that  the  proper- 
ties exhibited  by  the  elements  are  periodic  func- 
tions of  their  atomic  weights,,  which,  ki  simple  lan- 
guage, means  that  chemical  characteristics  of  the 
various  substances  periodically  recur  as  the 
weight  of  their  respective  atoms  increases. 

It  now  became  obvious  to  the  more  philosophi- 
cal investigators  that  there  was,  in  fact,  an  under- 
lying relation  between  the  atoms  of  the  various 
elements,  just  as  Prout  had  suspected.  It  was 
apparent,  also,  since  this  relation  was  a  numerical 
relation,  and  since  some  of  the  atoms  bore  a  frac- 
tional aspect,  that  the  existence  of  something  yet 
smaller  than  the  atom  must  be  postulated — some- 
thing out  of  which  the  atoms  themselves  could  be 
built  up — in  order  to  satisfy  the  conditions  im- 
posed by  the  Periodic  Law. 


THEORIES  OF  MATTER  111 

The  honor  of  discovering  these  infinitely  min- 
ute particles,  however,  did  not  go  to  the  chemists, 
but  to  the  physicists,  who  first  detected  them  by 
means  of  the  electroscope. 

The  electroscope  is  an  extremely  sensitive,  yet 
simple  apparatus.  It  consists  of  two  strips  of  gold- 
foil  attached  to  the  end  of  a  metallic  rod  which  in 
turn  is  thrust  through  the  stopper  of  a  glass  jar  so 
that  the  leaves  hang  inside.  Now,  when  an  elec- 
trically charged  body  is  brought  in  proximity  to 
the  metallic  rod,  an  electrical  charge  is  communi- 
cated through  the  rod  to  the  leaves.  These,  being 
similarly  electrified,  are  repelled  from  one  an- 
other and  stand  apart  at  an  angle — the  amount 
of  the  angle  measuring  the  amount  of  the  com- 
municated charge. 

Now,  in  experiments  with  the  electroscope,  it 
was  discovered  that  air,  ordinarily  a  very  poor 
conductor  of  electricity,  became  a  very  excellent 
conductor  after  having  been  in  the  proximity  of 
a  candle-flame.  It  then  possessed  the  power  of 
discharging  an  electroscope,  causing  the  gold 
leaves  to  collapse.  Nor  was  a  candle-flame  the 
only  agent  that  would  affect  the  air  in  this  fash- 
ion ;  it  was  soon  observed  that  contact  with  glow- 
ing metals,  or  with  metals  exposed  to  the  action 
of  ultra-violet  light,  imparted  a  similar  property. 
An  electrical  discharge  would  also  render  the  sur- 
rounding air  a  conductor,  and  this  conductivity 


112  PRINCIPLES  OF  DRAMA-THERAPY 

remained  after  the  discharge  had  ceased.  The 
mere  presence  of  certain  elements  produced  a 
like  effect:  it  was  even  found  that  the  simple 
expedient  of  bubbling  it  through  water  gave  air 
the  power  to  disperse  an  electrostatic  charge.  In 
fact,  it  was  found  that  "all  forms  of  matter  under 
special  conditions  and  special  forms  of  matter 
under  all  conditions"  affected  the  air  in  this 
fashion. 

But,  and  what  was  more  striking  still,  this  ac- 
quired conductivity  could  be  removed  by  passing 
the  air  through  some  adequate  filter,  such  as  a 
wad  of  glass  wool. 

Obviously  there  was  something  in  the  air — 
something  given  off  by  the  forms  of  matter  with 
which  it  had  come  in  contact — something  in  the 
nature  of  particles  since  filtration  would  remove 
it — that  was  responsible  for  the  phenomenon.  In 
this  way  the  gaseous  ions  were  discovered. 

Subsequently,  experiments  with  positively  and 
negatively  charged  electroscopes  revealed  the  fact 
that  the  ions  were  of  two  kinds — one  possessing 
the  power  to  disperse  a  negative  charge  of  static 
electricity,  and  which,  therefore,  were  themselves 
positively  charged;  and  a  kind  possessing  the 
power  to  disperse  a  positive  charge,  and  which, 
therefore,  were  negatively  electrified.  The  posi- 
tive ions  are  still  called  ions.  About  them  very 
little  is  known  save  that  they  betray  a  positive 


THEORIES  OF  MATTER  113 

electrical  nature;  that  they  possess  little  or  no 
mass  at  all,  but  that  they  appear,  nevertheless,  to 
be  about  the  size  of  the  atom  of  hydrogen,  which 
is  the  unit  of  chemistry.  Concerning  the  nega- 
tive ion,  however,  quite  a  good  deal  is  known, 
and  because  of  the  importance  it  has  assumed  it 
has  been  given  a  special  name.  It  is  now  called 
the  corpuscle. 

The  reason  so  much  is  known  about  the  cor- 
puscle is  that  a  beam  of  these  tiny  particles,  ema- 
nating from  a  heated  metal  plate,  or  shot  from 
the  cathode  of  a  Crookes  tube,  or  derived  from 
any  source  whatever,  can  be  bent  by  magnetic 
stresses.  With  refined  and  highly  sensitive  appa- 
ratus scientists  have  deflected  such  a  beam,  by  the 
application  of  known  magnetic  forces,  through 
an  arc  which  could  easily  be  measured.  And, 
with  the  amount  of  the  deflecting  force  and  the 
radius  of  the  resulting  arc  known,  it  was  possible 
to  calculate  the  velocity  with  which  the  corpuscles 
traveled.  This  was  found  to  be  prodigious,  ap- 
proximating at  times  as  much  as  half  the  speed 
of  light,  or,  roughly,  90,000  miles  per  second. 

Next,  the  electrical  charge  carried  by  each  cor- 
puscle was  determined — a  calculation  which  its 
peculiar  property  of  forming  clouds  in  moist  air 
rendered  possible.  And  when  the  velocity  and 
the  electrical  charge  had  been  found,  the  mass  of 
the  corpuscle  could  be  worked  out.  This,  no  mat- 


114  PRINCIPLES  OF  DRAMA-THERAPY 

ter  from  what  source  the  corpuscle  was  derived, 
turned  out  to  be  a  constant  quantity :  it  possesses, 
roughly,  a  mass  1,000  times  less  than  that  of  the 
hydrogen  atom. 

Thus,  in  the  corpuscle,  physicists  discovered 
that  of  which  the  chemists  stood  in  need — they 
discovered  a  particle  1,000  times  smaller  than  the 
smallest  atom,  out  of  which  all  atoms,  and  con- 
sequently all  matter,  might  be  built  up;  and 
which,  if  this  were  the  case,  might  easily  invest 
each  element  with  a  numerical  relation  to  its 
neighbor.  But  were  the  atoms  of  the  elements 
built  up  out  of  these  tiny,  negatively  charged 
particles? 

This  question  was  answered  by  the  discovery 
of  radium.  Radium  is  an  element,  fitting  nicely 
into  its  place  in  the  Table  of  Elements  with  an 
atomic  weight  of  226.4.  It  possesses,  moreover, 
wonderful  dynamic  properties,  for  it  continually 
emits  energy  at  a  rate  that  is  stupendous  when 
compared  with  its  mass.  This  energy  takes  sev- 
eral forms.  It  appears  as  heat,  and  this  heat  is 
sufficient  to  keep  the  temperature  of  a  specimen 
of  radium  salts  several  degrees  above  that  of  sur- 
rounding objects:  it  appears  also  as  motion — 
motion  which  is  communicated  to  the  surrounding 
ether,  and  which  gives  rise  to  rays  resembling  in 
many  respects  those  emitted  by  the  Rontgen,  or 
X-ray  bulb.  All  of  these  properties  are  summed 


THEORIES  OF  MATTER  115 

up  under  the  general  heading  of  radio-activity. 

At  the  time  of  its  discovery  the  phenomenon 
of  radio-activity  could  be  accounted  for  only 
upon  the  supposition  of  atomic  disintegration.  It 
appeared  as  though  the  atoms  of  radium  were 
like  time-bombs:  at  a  certain  predetermined  mo- 
ment they  seemed  to  explode,  releasing  thereby 
vast  stores  of  intra-atomic  energy.  With  this 
supposition  in  mind,  M.  Henri  Becquerel,  the 
original  discoverer,  not  of  radium,  but  of  radio- 
^activity,  determined,  to  analyze  the  radium  rays. 
This  he  accomplished  by  subjecting  them  to  mag- 
netic torsion. 

Under  the  action  of  a  powerful  electro-magnet 
M.  Becquerel  found  that  the  rays  emitted  by  a 
specimen  of  radium  salts  became  split  up  into  two 
beams.  One  beam  appeared  to  be  unaffected  by 
the  magnetic  stress;  the  other  was  greatly  de- 
flected. This  latter  and  easily  deflected  portion, 
M.  Becquerel  called  the  beta-ray. 

Subsequently,  Professor  Rutherford,  by  the 
application  of  tremendous  magnetic  fields,  suc- 
ceeded in  splitting  the  former,  and  hitherto  un- 
deflected,  portion  of  the  beam  up  into  two  parts, 
one  of  which  was  deflected  and  one  of  which  was 
not.  This  second  deflected  portion,  however, 
was  not  attracted  towards  the  magnetic  pole  as 
the  beta-ray  had  been,  but  was  repelled  from  it. 
This  was  called  the  alpha-ray.  The  residual  ray, 


116  PRINCIPLES  OF  DRAMA-THERAPY 

which  refused  to  deviate  from  its  course,  was 
called  the  gamma-ray. 

Yet  further  investigation  by  means  of  the  elec- 
troscope revealed  the  fact  that  the  beta-ray  was 
nothing  more  nor  less  than  a  beam  of  negatively 
charged  corpuscles,  identical  with  those  emitted 
by  candle-flames,  by  hot  metals,  and  by  the  cath- 
odes of  vacuum  tubes.  The  alpha-ray,  on  the 
other  hand,  was  found  to  consist  of  positively 
charged  ions;  while  the  third  and  undeflected 
gamma-ray  appeared  to  be  wave  motions  set  up 
in  the  ether  by  the  vibrations  of  ion  and  corpuscle. 

Thus  it  was  shown  that  the  element  radium,  at 
least,  was  composed  at  last  analysis  of  ions  and 
corpuscles ;  and  in  1904  this  proof  was  extended 
to  another  element — one  which  betrayed  no  radio- 
active properties  whatever.  This  occurred  in  the 
following  manner: 

It  was  observed  that  substances  left  in  the 
neighborhood  of  radium  themselves  acquired  a 
quasi-radio-activity.  Investigation  showed  that 
this  was  due  to  something  given  off  by  the  radi- 
um— something  distinguished  from  the  rays  men- 
tioned above  by  the  fact  that  it  behaved  in  every 
particular,  not  like  a  ray,  but  like  a  gas.  This 
was  called  the  radium  emanation.  And  in  the  sum- 
mer of  1904  Sir  William  Ramsey  and  Mr.  Soddy 
determined  to  make  a  spectroscopic  analysis  of 
air  containing  this  emanation.  At  first  they  dis- 


THEORIES  OF  MATTER  117 

covered  lines  in  the  spectrum  which  they  attrib- 
uted to  the  emanation;  after  the  instrument  had 
been  allowed  to  stand  for  several  hours,  however, 
the  spectrum  of  helium,  clear  and  well-defined, 
appeared. 

Helium  is  an  element  with  an  atomic  weight  of 
4.  It  was  discovered  some  thirty  years  ago  in 
the  sun.  Later  it  was  found  to  exist  in  small 
quantities  upon  earth. 

Here,  then,  was  the  dream  of  the  medieval  al- 
chemist come  true ;  here  was  one  element,  radium, 
with  an  atomic  weight  of  226.4,  transmuting  itself 
into  another,  helium,  whose  atomic  weight  was 
only  4.  And,  obviously,  both  radium  and  helium 
were  composed  of  ions  and  corpuscles. 

Now  it  is  from  the  consideration  of  such  phe- 
nomena that  scientists  have  put  forward  the  Cor- 
puscular  Theory  of  matter.  This  theory  does  not 
involve  the  abandonment,  but  merely  the  exten- 
sion, of  the  Atomic  Theory.  For  the  Corpus- 
cular Theory  views  all  matter  simply  as  an  ag- 
glomeration of  corpuscles,  the  difference  between 
an  atom  of  hydrogen  and  an  atom  of  mercury 
being  only  a  difference  in  number  between  their 
constituent  parts.  Upon  this  basis,  therefore,  the 
hydrogen  atom,  whose  corrected  weight  is  1.008, 
would  consist  of  1,008  corpuscles:  the  atom  of 
mercury,  however,  whose  weight  is  200,  would 
consist  of  200,000. 


118  PRINCIPLES  OF  DRAMA-THERAPY 

But  it  will  be  remembered  that  the  corpuscles 
are  all  negatively  charged,  and  a  number  of  sim- 
ilarly charged  bodies  cannot  remain  in  a  state  of 
equilibrium  unless  they  be  associated  with  an 
equal  and  opposite  charge.  And  in  the  economy 
of  the  atom  the  positive  charge,  necessary  to  the 
stability  of  the  structure,  is  supplied  by  the  ion, 
which,  it  will  be  remembered,  possesses  no  appre- 
ciable mass,  and  which  may  best  be  described  as  a 
sphere  of  positive  electrification. 

Professor  J.  J.  Thompson  has  shown  how, 
upon  mathematical  grounds,  the  corpuscles  would 
arrange  themselves  within  this  positive  sphere; 
and  Professor  Mayer  has  worked  out  a  beautiful 
analogue  with  floating  magnets.  The  result  of 
these  calculations  and  experiments  have  been  to 
invest  the  atom  with  a  structure  in  every  way  an- 
alagous  to  that  of  the  solar  system,  in  which  the 
corpuscles  in  rapid  orbital  motion  correspond  to 
the  planets,  and  in  which  the  enclosing  sphere  of 
positive  electrification  corresponds  to  the  centrip- 
etal pull  of  gravity. 

Now,  if  we  accept  the  usual  definition  of  mat- 
ter as  that  which  possesses,  mass,  it  is  apparent 
from  the  foregoing  that  only  one  of  the  constitu- 
ent parts  of  matter  conforms  to  the  test  of  ma- 
teriality. This  is  the  corpuscle;  the  ion  is  simply 
a  sphere  of  influence. 

However,    as   far    back    as   1881,    Professor 


THEORIES  OF  MATTER  119 

Thompson  pointed  out  that  a  charge  of  electric- 
ity in  motion  sets  up  a  drag  in  the  ether  through 
which  it  moves — just  as  the  armature  of  a  dyna- 
mo sets  up  a  drag  in  its  magnetic  field,  which 
makes  it  increasingly  difficult  to  turn.  This 
drag,  or  resistance  to  motion,  makes  the  charge 
appear  to  possess  inertia,  weight  or  mass,  which 
is  a  characteristic  of  matter.  Subsequently,  Sir 
Oliver  Lodge  calculated  how  much  this  increase 
in  inertia  would  be  in  a  body  of  given  mass,  and 
carrying  a  given  electrical  charge,  at  varying 
speeds.  He  found  that  at  half  the  speed  of  light, 
which  travels  at  the  rate  of  186,000  miles  per 
second,  this  apparent  increase  in  mass  would  be 
equal  to  .12  of  the  body's  actual  mass  when  in  a 
state  of  rest.  At  .9  the  speed  of  light  the  body 
would  behave  as  though  it  were  1.8  times  as  heavy, 
while  at  99  per  cent  of  the  speed  of  light  its  mass 
would  appear  to  be  3.28  times  as  great.  At  99.5 
per  cent,  this  number  jumped  suddenly  to  5 ;  and 
between  99.5  per  cent  and  the  actual  speed  of 

light,  it  jumped  from  5  to infinity. 

From  the  foregoing  it  is  obvious  that  no  par- 
ticle of  matter  can  ever  attain  a  speed  greater 
than  that  of  light  for,  though  it  were  only  the  size 
of  a  corpuscle  when  it  started,  if  it  be  conceived 
of  as  attaining  a  speed  greater  than  that  of  light, 
it  must  be  conceive4  of,  also,  as  having  acquired 
a  mass  greater  than  that  of  the  universe. 


120  PRINCIPLES  OF  DRAMA-THERAPY 

Now  in  1881  these  findings  of  Professor 
Thompson  and  of  Sir  Oliver  Lodge  caused  little 
comment,  for  then  no  particles  of  matter  were 
known  which  any  where  nearly  approximated 
such  enormous  velocities.  Since  then,  however, 
they  have  been  discovered  in  the  corpuscle,  which 
attains  at  times  a  speed  of  90,000  miles  per 
second. 

When  this  discovery  was  made  a  startling  idea 
flashed  across  the  intellectual  horizon,  for  it  sud- 
denly occurred  to  scientists  that  perhaps  the  en- 
tire mass  of  the  corpuscle,  itself  the  only  material 
element  in  matter,  might  be  due  to  nothing  in  the 
world  but  to  its  electrical  charge  and  to  its  mo- 
tion. This  consideration  has  given  rise  to  what  is 
called  the  Electronic  Theory  of  matter. 

The  Electronic  Theory  does  not  involve  the 
abandonment  either  of  the  Atomic  or  the  Corpus- 
cular theories ;  it  does  not  contradict,  but  includes 
both.  Its  distinguishing  characteristic  is  that  it 
views  the  mass  of  the  corpuscle  as  due  entirely 
to  its  motion  and  to  its  charge.  If  this  view  be 
correct,  it  means  that  every  element,  and  conse- 
quently that  all  matter,  is  nothing  more  nor  less 
than  electrical  and  motional  conditions  subsist- 
ing in  the  primary  ether. 

Now,  in  arriving  at  the  Electronic  Theory,  the 
science  of  the  past  decade  has  made  many  second- 
ary, but  none  the  less  important,  deductions. 


THEORIES  OF  MATTER  121 

The  chief  of  these  has  resulted  in  the  extension 
of  the  Evolutionary  Hypothesis  so  as  to  include 
not  only  the  organic,  but  the  inorganic  world  as 
well — a  view  to  which  the  work  of  Sir  Norman 
Lockyer  in  astro-physics  largely  contributed. 

Sir  Norman  Lockyer  discovered,  through 
spectroscopic  analysis  of  the  fixed  stars,  that  the 
chemical  constitution  of  the  heavenly  bodies  va- 
ried directly  as  their  temperature.  In  the  cooler 
stars  many  of  the  heavier  elements  which  are 
common  upon  earth  were  present.  As  the  tem- 
perature rose  to  that  of  the  greater  suns,  how- 
ever, the  chemical  constitution  became  less  com- 
plex, until,  in  the  very  hottest,  only  the  lightest 
elements  such  as  hydrogen,  and  a  form  of  hydro- 
gen known  as  proto-hydrogen,  appeared.  This 
seemed  to  indicate  that  as  the  temperature  rose 
or  fell,  element  was  evolved  from  element,  just 
as  in  the  biological  world  species  is  evolved  from 
species,  and  just  as  in  the  laboratory  helium  is 
evolved  from  radium. 

Sir  Norman  Lockyer,  however,  as  well  as  all 
of  those  distinguished  physicists  whose  work  has 
given  us  the  Corpuscular  and  the  Electronic 
theories,  assumed,  apparently  without  question 
that  the  Helmholzian  theory  of  the  Conservation 
of  Energy  was  correct.  This  theory  postulates 
that  there  is  a  fixed  amount  of  energy  in  the 
universe,  which,  although  it  may  be  converted 


122  PRINCIPLES  OF  DRAMA-THERAPY 

from  one  form  into  another  until  it  is  diffused 
as  radiations  of  heat,  can,  notwithstanding,  never 
be  augmented  or  diminished  hy  so  much  as  the 
millionth  part  of  a  calory. 

Laboring  under  the  spell  of  such  an  assump- 
tion the  result  was  unavoidable :  all  of  these  men 
contemplated  a  dying  universe — a  universe  in 
which  the  fixed  amount  of  energy  doled  out  at 
some  supposititious  and  far-off  creation,  was  be- 
ing, not  destroyed,  but  dissipated  beyond  use- 
fulness by  radiation  into  outer  space.  The  sun, 
they  argued,  is  continually  giving  up  heat: 
therefore  one  day  it  will  grow  cold.  Many  of 
them  went  so  far  as  to  calculate  how  long  the 
celestial  furnace  would  hold  out,  and  thus  fixed 
an  approximate  date  upon  which  our  own  solar 
system  would  pass  into  a  state  of  eternal  stag- 
nation. Thus  it  was  that  Sir  Norman  Lockyer, 
apparently,  assumed  that  the  order  of  evolution 
among  the  stars  was  from  the  extremely  hot  to 
the  extremely  cold. 

Now  the  only  point  that  is  of  interest  to  us 
at  the  present  moment  is  this:  the  Theory  of 
Conservation,  upon  which  the  entire  structure 
of  19th  century  physics  rested,  is  to-day  being 
subjected  to  the  most  critical  scrutiny — and 
largely  through  the  work  of  American  scientists. 

The  heavy  guns  of  reason  were  first  turned 
upon  it  when  the  Frenchman,  Babinet,  definitely 


THEORIES  OF  MATTER  123 

exploded  the  La  Placian  theory  of  the  origin 
of  worlds.  For,  although  Helmholz  did  not 
formulate  the  Theory  of  Conservation  until  after 
La  Place's  Nebula  Hypothesis  had  been  ad- 
vanced, the  Nebula  Hypothesis,  nevertheless,  pre- 
supposed the  Law  of  Conservation. 

According  to  La  Place  who,  by  the  way,  is 
said  never  fully  to  have  accepted  his  own  ex- 
planation, the  solar  system  originated  in  a  vast, 
incandescent  nebula.  This  nebula,  losing  heat 
by  radiation,  contracted,  and  finally  condensed 
into  a  central  sun  surrounded  by  a  family  of 
growing  planets.  As  cooling  continued,  the  sup- 
position was  that  the  planets — at  least  the  planet 
Earth — became  habitable,  and  that  life  appeared. 
The  heat  of  the  central  body  was,  therefore,  due 
to  its  primordial  state  of  incandescence:  its  fu- 
ture, therefore,  was  the  future  of  a  dark  and  icy 
star. 

In  1861,  however,  Babinet  took  the  calculated 
and  combined  mass  of  the  sun  and  his  attendant 
worlds,  and  expanded  it  into  a  sphere  with  a  radi- 
us equal  to  the  radius  of  Neptune's  orbit.  Nep- 
tune, the  outermost  planet,  revolves  at  the  enor- 
mous distance  of  2,791,600,000  miles  from  the 
sun.  And  when  the  available  material  had  been 
spread  out  over  this  huge  space,  Babinet  discov- 
ered that  the  average  density  of  so  tenuous  a 
body  was  somewhat  less  than  that  of  the  most 


124  PRINCIPLES  OF  DRAMA-THERAPY 

perfect  vacuum  that  can  be  obtained,  and  that, 
consequently,  its  mean  temperature,  instead  of 
approximating  incandescence,  approximated 
much  more  nearly  the  absolute  zero  of  outer 
space. 

Thus  it  is  that  modern  astronomers — Pro- 
fessor See,  among  others — declare  the  Nebula 
Hypothesis  to  be  untenable,  despite  the  fact  that 
it  provided  the  basis  for  collegiate  text-books  un- 
til as  late  as  1912. 

Coincidentally  with  the  passing  of  the  Nebula 
Hypothesis  among  astronomers,  comes  a  ten- 
dency upon  the  part  of  the  younger  physicists  seri- 
ously to  question  the  Law  of  Conservation,  which 
it  unconsciously  presupposed. 

These  men  by  no  means  contemplate  a  dying 
universe,  or  a  sun  growing  cold  through  the  loss 
of  heat.  On  the  contrary,  they  view  the  produc- 
tion of  radiant  energy  as  a  condition  of  matter 
when  matter  is  agglomerated  in  large  masses. 
The  sun,  they  say,  is  hot,  not  by  virtue  of  some 
primordial  incandescence,  nor  by  virtue  of  subse- 
quent contraction  as  some  have  supposed,  but 
purely  and  simply  by  virtue  of  his  own  immense 
mass.  His  heat,  they  hold,  is  evolved  from  mo- 
ment to  moment,  partially,  perhaps,  by  the  im- 
pact of  infalling  meteoric  material,  but  princi- 
pally by  the  pressure  of  his  outer  upon  his  inner 
layers — just  as  they  hold  that  the  inner  heat  of 


THEORIES  OF  MATTER  125 

the  earth  arises  from  the  pressure  of  the  crust 
upon  the  interior.  This  heat  has  been  termed 
gravistatic  heat;  the  energy  which  produces  it  is 
not  the  energy  of  motion,  but  the  energy  of  posi- 
tion— not  the  energy  of  impact,  which  is  dissi- 
pated in  heat  the  moment  that  motion  is  arrested, 
but  the  energy  of  pressure,  which  is  continuous 
impact.  Now  the  point  to  be  noted  is  that  the 
heat  resulting  from  pressure  cannot  give  out,  for 
the  simple  reason  that  as  long  as  pressure  con- 
tinues, just  so  long  is  heat  being  evolved. 

Upon  this  basis,  therefore,  all  dark  stars  and 
"dead"  planets  are  not  dead,  if  the  term  implies  a 
former  loss  of  heat.  On  the  contrary  they  are 
hotter  now  than  they  ever  have  been;  and  if, 
through  the  accretion  of  material,  they  should  one 
day  acquire  sufficient  mass,  they  will  burst  sud- 
denly into  flame,  fused  by  their  own  great  weight. 

Such  a  conception  as  the  above,  which  views  the 
entire  amount  of  energy  in  the  universe  as  being 
expended  every  moment,  and  every  moment  as 
being  thoroughly  and  completely  renewed,  is  a 
far  cry  from  the  Theory  of  Conservation,  which 
has  sapped  the  life-blood  of  science  for  half  a 
century. 

And  possibly  within  the  next  few  years,  this 
same  conception  will  supplant  the  now  generally 
accepted  theory  of  atomic  disintegration  as  the 
explanation  of  radio-activity,  for,  by  referring  to 


126  PRINCIPLES  OF  DRAMA-THERAPY 

the  Table  of  Elements,  it  will  be  observed  that 
the  radio-active  substances  are,  atom  for  atom, 
the  densest  known  forms  of  matter.  Should  this 
occur,  scientists  would  then  postulate  that  a  con- 
dition of  radiant  activity  is  a  function  of  mass: 
It  will  be  most  interesting  to  see. 

Now,  before  quitting  the  Law  of  Conserva- 
tion, the  author  wishes  to  call  attention  to  the  in- 
tellectual process  by  which  these  latter  day  think- 
ers are,  apparently,  arriving  at  the  conception  of 
a  self -maintaining,  self -evolving  universe,  as  dis- 
tinguished from  the  dying  universe  of  the  19th 
century. 

It  is,  of  course,  obvious  that  no  work  is  possible 
unless  there  be  a  difference  in  potential.  The  sun 
is  hotter  than  the  earth:  this  difference  in  tem- 
perature constitutes  the  difference  in  potential 
which  has  given  rise  to  all  the  forms  of  life,  and 
to  all  the  particular  manifestations  of  energy, 
with  which  we  are  familiar.  Then,  since  all  forms 
and  all  manifestations  of  energy  are,  according  to 
the  Electronic  Theory,  conditions  subsisting  in 
primary  ether,  it  is  obvious  that  we  must  concede 
to  ether  itself  the  ability  to  alter  its  own  equilib- 
rium, and  to  establish  within  itself  differences  in 
potential.  Now,  when  we  are  dealing  in  terms  of 
Nature,  it  is  purely  academic  and  unwarranted 
to  conceive  of  a  natural  law  as  operative  at  one 
time  and  not  at  another.  Yet  this  is  precisely 


THEORIES  OF  MATTER  127 

what  the  thinkers  of  the  last  century  did.  They 
perceived  that  differences  in  potential  existed,  but 
conceived  of  the  cause  which  produced  those  dif- 
ferences as  operative  only  at  the  time  of  a  far-off 
beginning.  To-day,  however,  we  recognize  the 
fact  that  if  we  conceive  of  a  natural  law  at  all, 
we  must  conceive  of  it  as  being  operative,  like 
the  law  of  gravitation,  at  overy  moment  of  time. 
Consequently,  we  cannot  avoid  the  inference  that 
to  establish  and  to  maintain  differences  in  poten- 
tial between  her  constituent  parts,  is  a  quality  in- 
herent in  Nature,  and  as  universal  as  the  ether 
itself. 

It  is,  doubtless,  some  such  necessity  as  the 
above  that  is  to-day  leading  scientists  to  discard 
the  idea  of  a  cooling  sun,  and  to  conceive  of  a  sun 
hot  by  virtue  of  his  own  mighty  efforts — a  sun  to 
whom  the  intense  cold  of  outer  space  is  the  neces- 
sary negative  pole  of  the  battery — not  enemy,  but 
wife. 

If  this  view  be  adopted,  and  be  transferred 
from  the  solar  system  to  the  atom,  we  have  three 
elements  entering  into  its  structure.  One  of  these 
we  shall  call  oc,  or  that  which  maintains  that 
purely  local  difference  in  potential,  between  posi- 
tive ion  and  negative  corpuscle,  by  virtue  of 
which  the  atom  exists,  and  which,  therefore,  mani- 
fests as  the  orbital  motion  of  the  corpuscles,  and 
in  radio-active  bodies  as  the  gamma-ray.  The 


128  PRINCIPLES  OF  DRAMA-THERAPY 

other  two  are  the  ion  and  the  corpuscle  them- 
selves. If,  however,  the  atom  be  expanded  by  a 
process  of  evolution  into  the  man,  these  elements 
become  an  originative  element,  a  receptive  and  ex- 
ecutive element,  and  a  physical  instrument* 


*For  a  more  detailed  discussion  of  these  theories,  see 
The  New  Knowledge;  R.  K.  Duncan;  and  From  Nebula 
to  Nebula;  G.  H.  Lepper. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Psychanalysis;  A.  A.  Brill. 

On  Dreams;  Sigmund  Freud. 

The  Psychopathology  of  Everyday  Life;  Sig- 
mund Freud. 

Human  Personality;  F.  W.  H.  Myers. 

Psychotherapy;  Hugo  Miinsterberg. 

The  Psychology  of  Suggestion;  Boris  Sidis. 

Hypnotism  and  Its  Application  to  Practical 
Medicine;  A.  G.  Wetterstrand. 

Animal  Magnetism;  Binet  and  Fere. 
Hypnotism;  Fredrik  Bjornstrom. 
History  of  the  Supernatural;  William  Howitt 
The  Lost  Language  of  Symbolism;  Harold  Bay- 

ley. 
A  New  Light  on  the  Renaissance;  Harold  Bay- 

ley. 

The  Huguenots;  S.  Smiles. 
Decline  and  Fall  of  the  Roman  Empire  (Chapter 

LIV) ;  Edward  Gibbon. 
The  Edinburgh  Lectures;  T.  Troward. 
Bible  Mystery  and  Bible  Meaning;  T.  Troward. 
The  Golden  Bough;  J.  G.  Frazer. 
Biography  and  Discoveries  of  T.  J.  J.  See;  W. 

L.  Webb. 

129 


The  New  Knowledge;  Robert  Kennedy  Duncan. 
From  Nebula  to  Nebula;  George  Henry  Lepper. 

The  Earth:  Its  Origin  and  Evolution;  A.  T. 
Swaine. 

Growth  of  the  English  Drama  from  the  Liturgy 
of  the  Church;  Mary  Angelique. 

Greek  and  English  Tragedy;  Gilbert  Murray. 

The  Origins   of  the  English  Drama;  A.  W. 
Ward. 

Encyclopedia  of  Ethics  and  Religion. 
The  Upanishads. 


130 


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